The Lone Star Chapter of National Society Daughters of the American Revolution's annual Christmas Luncheon honoring veterans and active military will take place 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Hilton Garden Inn, 2910 S. Cowhorn Creek Loop.
Tickets to the event are $25 and are available by emailing [email protected]. RSVP by Dec. 1 to attend.
"Our organization does this event so we can honor veterans and remember the military and what they've done for our country," said Tammie Blackburn, chapter regent.
Celia Belt, burn survivor, co-founder of the Moonlight Fund and author of "Remarkably Intact" will speak at the event.
"Remarkably Intact" covers Belt's personal burn story and the development of the Moonlight Foundation, a nonprofit that helps burn survivors in a variety of ways including covering the cost of health care for those who are uninsured, rehabilitative services, replacing possessions for families who've lost everything to a fire or explosion, education for burn survivors and family members and more.
The organization has helped more than 5,000 burn survivors and their family members since being founded in 1998 in San Antonio, Texas by Belt and fellow burn survivor Henry Coffeen III.
Belt will have two book signings open to the public Dec. 7. The first takes place from 10 a.m. to noon at the Texarkana College Library and the second takes place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 1894 Gallery, 105 Olive St., Texarkana, Ark. Books will be available for $18.
"The last 20-plus years we've been taking care of burn survivors and it all started with one woman, me, being burned," Belt said. "It really isn't an autobiography or a memoir. It's really more of a love story between one burn survivor and the 10,000 burn survivors she's helped over the years. The book does travel through my life. I was burned by my father at 21 months of old so there's a lot about forgiveness in it. You have to look at everything in life, flip it on it's side and say 'I forgive.' If I can't forgive why did it happen?"