Photo By Samantha Harms | Volunteers hand over a bowl of chili, one of the many dishes available, to an attendee...... read more read more
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FORT CAVAZOS, Texas — The smell of barbecue wafted through the air as dozens of people began lining up early to try one of the many offerings at this year’s Cowboys 4 Heroes Bumpers and BBQ event Oct. 19, 2024, at the Phantom Warrior Center.
The annual event provides attendees with an authentic chuck wagon barbecue experience, cooking food over open fire and wood-burning stoves, along with the chance to shop at local vendor booths, enjoy a pumpkin patch, rock climb, ride the Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area train and vote on their favorite modern or classic car.
“Cowboys 4 Heroes comes out to honor the veterans and the active-duty — the first responders,” said Norma Hernandez, Fort Cavazos Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation community activities coordinator. “It’s their way of giving back to them and honoring them today.”
The Houston-based organization was founded in 2009 to assist combat veterans during the challenging transition from active-duty to civilian life. The volunteers who comprise the organization help veterans with combat-related wounds of war as they and their families find and adjust to their new normal.
Since their inception, Cowboys 4 Heroes donors and volunteers have provided more than 1.5 million meals and nutritional support to active-duty military, veterans, their families and first responders. This is in addition to providing more than $350,000 in educational support to Future Farmers of America and 4-H youth who raise the steer, which are locally processed and provided to the program partners to assist veterans and their families.
This year, they planned to serve around 18,000 meals to Soldiers, family members, retirees and Department of the Army civilians.
“When we first started doing this — the youth of Texas and then service members — it became such an easy group to serve,” said Greg Liles, founder of Cowboys 4 Heroes. “It doesn’t matter who you are, what side of the ledger you’re on politically, male or female, young or old, — it doesn’t matter. It’s such an easy group to serve, and they’re underserved in a lot of ways.
“People want to come serve,” he continued. “We’ll have around 200 people here today on cook team serving. They all come free. We love doing it. The sacrifices are real, and we’re just trying to give back and say, ‘Thank you.’”
Among those volunteers were Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets from Texas A&M University, with the intent on giving back to the Central Texas community.
“The reason I came here today is because my corps commander is a very big advocate for volunteer service,” explained Cadet Dallas Salazar, a senior at Texas A&M. “I really enjoy volunteer services at Texas A&M; they have this thing called the Big Event. It’s a service opportunity that has the whole campus go out and help serve the local community. And I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to get to meet new people and help volunteer and serve the local community.”
Other cadets in attendance agreed.
“This was just one of the ways I thought I could give back,” said Cadet Natalie Perez, a sophomore at Texas A&M. “My dad was stationed on (then) Fort Hood for a very long time, so coming back around, giving back to the community that pretty much raised me, it was a really, really easy choice.”
This is the fifth year for this event, which always has the intent to support the morale of the Soldiers stationed here.
“We want to make sure that the Soldiers know that they’re appreciated, they’re seen, they’re heard, and there’s people out there that are willing to come together and do something like this for them,” Hernandez said.
“My team and I — we say this all the time: ‘It’s a labor of love,’” Hernandez added. “But as soon as we see all the crowds come out, … we’re all like, ‘This is what we put together. This is what we did.’ And we get a sense of joy and accomplishment in bringing this out to the community. We love it. It’s just like I said. It’s a labor of love, but we love it.”
| Date Taken: | 10.24.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2024 15:27 |
| Story ID: | 488223 |
| Location: | FORT CAVAZOS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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