TEXARKANA, Ark. - More than 250 people partook of the Thanksgiving feast served at the Sandflat Glendale Shannon Neighborhood Center.
The event, the first one under the management team of Johnny and Barbara Pitts Riley, will probably be an annual event for the center.
"Our goal is to partner with community organizations and not duplicate what they do," said Johnny, who is also CEO of Bridging the Gaps of Arkansas, which the center is a part.
"We are in the business of serving the community. Our goal is to mentor young people and provide meals three times a week for senior citizens," he said. "We do what we can to make the community a better place."
"The center provides a safe haven for the total family," Barbara said. "This is a place where they can come to play games, eat, get in touch spiritually. We have baby showers, weddings, wakes and such here. We have educational programs, arts, guest speakers. We are here for whatever our community needs.
"We've had cross-cultural observances, such as July's continental African festival.
"Our big event annually is the National Night Out, where we have a themed event around every year. Last year was Aretha Franklin and her favorite foods. This year, we did a Western show, complete with cowboy food and two-step dancing."
Barbara said the center is to be a place the community can gather and feel at home.
"Our goal is to be a place to come, have fun, feel joy, not feel threatened," she said. "This neighborhood has sometimes been regarded as having more than its share of criminal activity, but we wanted to show that this does not have to be the case."
Many showed up to the center's Thanksgiving feast, not only to partake, but to volunteer their time and labor to the center and community.
"Our mac 'n' cheese alone came from three different places - Little Rock, Arkadelphia and Gurdon, Arkansas," said Johnathon O. Boyce, CEO of Brighter Tomorrow Foundation and the board of directors of the Central Arkansas Development Council.
This is not Boyce's first community Thanksgiving feast.
"My first was in Arkadelphia," he said. "I wanted to bring something like that closer to home, being originally from Texarkana, Texas."
The event brought funds, food and volunteer time from many individuals and organizations - including local churches, the Hookah Lounge on State Line, Big Eats Catering Service and more.
"The strategy was asking each volunteer to bring 10 of each thing they were to bring," he said. "Freshly made, not pre-made, not boxed. Community delivered. The African Bandits, a motorcycle club (they've been around since the '60s, and Boyce is a member) had been roasting 10 turkeys all night. It took all these people and all this time to make this happen.
"Just like the motto of the center, 'We Are Better Together.'"