Sulphur residents celebrate with annual community Thanksgiving dinner

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - The annual community Thanksgiving dinner sponsored by the Lions Club and the City of Sulphur took place this morning.

“That’s what I’m grateful for this year, all the awesome things that God has done for our senior center, and our senior citizens of Sulphur,” said Barbara Matthews.

For Beverly Boudreaux, this is what she is thankful for.

“I am thankful for families getting along, good weather, no hurricanes,” she said. “We are just trying to enjoy life right now.”

There was much to be thankful for this year over at the annual community Thanksgiving dinner at the Sulphur Parks and Recreations Center.

“We started cooking turkeys last night about 8:00 p.m., finished up about 1:30 this morning, and we were up here at 5:30 starting to prep on all the other corn, green beans,” said Maplewood/Hollywood Lions Club member William Arceneaux.

Sponsored by the Maplewood/Hollywood Lions Club, Arcenauex tells me they’ve been doing this for over 30 years.

“We have a lot of older gentlemen, a load of coupled gentlemen, they have no family,” he said. “So this is their family, they come here for Thanksgiving dinner, and we see a lot of the same people year after year. It’s glad to see them coming back.”

People like Kayla Monceaux, who explains this is a tradition for her.

“We’re actually religiously involved,” she said. “We come to hang out every year for probably the majority of my life. Yeah, I’m a native.”

For some, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to give back. For five years now Beverly Mason has been volunteering behind the table.

“I just love the camaraderie and the people that come out here, and it’s just fun. It’s fun to do it. I enjoy it.”

And it’s a tradition for everyone in the community.

“I’ve been doing this since 2000,” said Sulphur Mayor Mike Danahay. “So I’ve been here quite a few years. Each year it’s a very successful event that we have.”

Arceneaux did say it cost about $4,500 to put today’s meal on; he says they also receive donations from the local community, the City of Sulphur, and the Maplewood/Hollywood Lions Club.

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