Organization helps Beauregard Parish families prepare Thanksgiving dinner

RAGLEY, La. (KPLC) - With record-high inflation, it will be a challenge for some to be able to get dinner on the table this Thanksgiving. We met with one group making sure those in need have groceries for a holiday meal.

Many of us have experienced the feeling of going to the grocery store and seeing price hikes on foods we use in our daily lives due to inflation.

“Times are tough right now. We live on a fixed income, my husband’s disabled, I’ve got a disabled mom I’m taking care of, so any little bit helps,” Wendy Broussard-Murray said.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, getting food for your dinner may be quite expensive. The Fearless Missions Thanksgiving Food Pantry gave families grocery bags filled with food items Friday morning.

Samantha Hickmen is one of many who waited in line at the South Beauregard Community Center to get her bag.

“Food is expensive, groceries are crazy, so just to be here and my friend brought me because my car just broke down, it just, it means a lot,” she said.

Along with Hickmen was Alice Fowler, who has lived in the Ragley area for years and is thankful for the community coming together to provide food for their Thanksgiving dinner.

“It means that we’ve probably saved about $250 overall for the people that are going to be there to eat with me for Thanksgiving Day, $250 that will go towards a light bill from cost of inflation, or your gas and your vehicle that we drive every day to go to work or wherever it is we have to go,” Fowler said.

With over 10,000 canned goods donated, along with cakes, pies, and many other foods, the Fearless Missions Thanksgiving Food Pantry will provide meals to 300 families, totaling 1,300 people across Southwest Louisiana.

“You can only go day to day, and family is what’s the most important thing right now. Even if you can’t make a big meal, just being together is important,” Hickmen said.

Students from the South Beauregard Student Council assisted with the giveaway along with volunteers from churches in the area.

Sempra Infrastructure and Cheniere Energy helped with the food pantry as well.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of everybody needs help and that’s when a community comes together, it’s a wonderful thing,” Murray said.

For more Thanksgiving food drives around our area, CLICK HERE.

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