The Police Jury parking lot was one of the busier restaurants in the parish Sunday, August 30 as a civic minded group of businesses, governmental organizations, NSU volunteers and service organizations came together to thank the men and women who have come from across the nation to assist our community in hurricane recovery with a free lunch.

In addition to local first responders, law enforcement and essential workers, line crews have come from Texas, Iowa, Colorado, Michigan and Indiana to augment local crews in restoring power to our hard hit state. National Guard Soldiers from Ruston’s 527th Battalion are lending their engineering expertise and heavy equipment to clearing roads and repairing damaged infrastructure. These men and women are putting in hours of hard, often dangerous, work in sweltering heat.

This almost impromptu lunch is an example of some of the wonderful things about life in a small town. Someone saw a need and a few calls were made. In a few days a group of people came together to feed over 500 men and women from our local community and from across our nation and to thank them for the vital work that they do. America was at its finest in a parking lot in rural Louisiana today.

Many thanks to: Bank of Montgomery, Natchitoches DA Billy Joe Harrington, Natchitoches Jaycees, Family Doctors of Natchitoches, Cane River National Heritage Area, Historic District Business Association, Les Amies, Lagniappe Homecare, Exchange Bank, City Bank, Lasyone’s NSU Cheer, Natchitoches Flipping Athletics, and Natchitoches Service League for putting on this wonderful event on such short notice.

The Natchitoches Parish Journal would also like to thank the Louisiana Army National Guard’s 527th Battalion and wish its soldiers deploying to Afghanistan Godspeed as they serve our country overseas.

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