The 16th Annual Turkey Trot held on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, set new records for the Cain Center. Trotters enjoyed beautiful sunny weather for the 5k and 1mile fun run and walk! The Cain Center logged almost 450 registered participants and furry companions beating the previous record by nearly 100 participants! Each first place winner was given their choice of a Smoked Turkey or Ham provided by Danny’s Smokehouse and Barbeque. In addition to the turkeys and hams given to our race winners, there were several other door prizes from pies to carving boards that were given out to race participants and food pantry donors. Continue reading “Record-setting results at the Turkey Trot”
Pictured unveiling the Child Welfare Board Angel Tree are, from left, Henderson County Judge Richard Sanders, Pct. 1 Commissioner Scotty Thomas, Welfare Board member the Rev. Mary Henderson, Welfare Board member Kim Hodges, and Welfare Board Chairman Justin Weiner.
Child Welfare Board press release
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! But for some children from Henderson County it can be the most difficult time of the year. Children that have been placed in foster care due to allegations of abuse and neglect often struggle for a sense of normalcy around Christmas time.
You can help! The Henderson County Child Welfare Board in association with Nexus Fostering Essex sponsors an Angel Tree which will be on display at First State Bank here in Athens. This particular tree is unique and distinguishable from others within the community because it only includes children who are involved with Child Protective Services from Henderson County. The tree is currently up in the lobby of the downtown branch of First State Bank. Individuals or groups can sponsor an angel and help try to make Christmas a little more normal for these children. The Board will even take donations and shop for you if you don’t have time during the busy holiday season. This is a wonderful way to give back to children in need and is an excellent activity for the whole family. What could be a better way to get into the Christmas spirit? Without help from the community, these kids would get little or no Christmas, and so this is our attempt to provide at least some level of normalcy to their lives.
Justin Weiner, a Henderson County Assistant District Attorney who serves as Chairman of the Henderson County Child Welfare Board, is urging the community to get involved with the Angel Tree.
“This is a wonderful and easy way for our community to make a huge impact in the lives Henderson County foster children,” he said. “Each and every one of these children deserves to be able to celebrate the holidays. Please help us in our efforts to ensure that they will.”
Come by the lobby at First State Bank located on the square across from the Court House during normal lobby hours: Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Fridays: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Board asks that all purchased presents be returned by Dec. 13. This allows for the Board to make sure that presents get to the children on time.
The Henderson County Child Welfare Board’s mission is to support a network of volunteers and Child Protective Services workers from child hunger organizations who are concerned with the welfare of children, especially those suffering from abuse and neglect. Its purpose is to function as a liaison between the community and the Texas Department of Family and Child Protective Services.
Please help spread the word to anyone in the community who may be interested in helping to make Christmas for these children a little brighter and a little more normal.
I don’t know about you, but I had a few too many Thanksgiving dinners. Five of them, or six, if you count stopping by my son’s house and scarfing up good stuff after most of his company had gone home. That would make three on Thanksgiving Day itself.
The first one on Thanksgiving Day was at Carol Yager’s house. I can’t miss that one, because she makes tons of wonderful food, and right after we eat and hurriedly clean up, she heads for Bastrop for several days, and gives me all her leftovers. Including the turkey, which still has all its dark meat, and makes a wonderful base for gumbo. After that, late afternoon grazing at Carl’s folks, and the late-late snack at Sonny’s, where I scored another leftover: Granddaughter Ariel sent us home with some of her delicious butternut squash casserole.
But all this stuffing really started on Tuesday, when my sister Mary and I went to eat lunch with her kids at Tommy and Bernice Harris’ house, where we ate wonderful things, and enjoyed their beautiful home, already decorated for Christmas.
Our whole-family Thanksgiving get-together has evolved into a waffle breakfast in the big room in the old nursing home. Tina and Randy cook the waffles and sausage and the rest of us gobble them up and visit. Right at the last minute the fancy commercial grade waffle maker broke, so they stopped at the Dollar Store where they found a couple of very inexpensive ones that make waffles in the shape of animals. They worked fine, just made thinner waffles, which was OK, since most of us would be better off with less waffles anyhow. I had an elephant and half a giraffe.
That was Saturday morning. Daughter Liz’s Thanksgiving dinner, which I had been elected to cook for, had been scheduled for Friday, but got changed to Saturday in order for granddaughter Laken to be there. So we ended up stuffing on animal waffles in the morning and then on another round of regular Thanksgiving type stuff at Liz’s house that afternoon. I got to bring home leftovers from there because I made double so I could.
Last night I finished turning the remains of the turkey into raw material for the gumbo. It is tucked snugly into the freezer. Maybe I’ll make a huge pot and share it with all these folks who fed me those Thanksgiving dinners. Hey, I just said that to fill space, but now that I think of it, I think I really will do that. There’s enough meat and stock for a lot of gumbo from that turkey, but it can just be the beginning. That’s the fun of gumbo, you can just keep adding to it. Some of that ham I brought home, some sausage, some shrimp, some kind of fish, tons of okra, celery and onions, and who knows what else. You surround it with a dark mysterious roux, and have people wondering what will show up in the next bite.
I’ll bet you think this is the most boring column I ever wrote. I don’t blame you. But it’s the best I could come up with. But tell you what–maybe I can make it up to you: if you’ve read this far and are dissatisfied with it, let me know and I’ll give you a cup of that gumbo if and when I get it made.
