Junior Auxiliary of Houma Hosts the Turkey Two-Step Sunday, November 14!

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Put those dancing shoes on! Turkey Two-Step will be Sunday, November 14 in the Houma Courthouse Square from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.!

 

There will be three cajun bands playing; The Daquari Queens, The Cajun Music Preservation Society, and Cajun Company Band. Ever wanted to play in a Cajun band? Now’s your time! The Cajun Music Preservation Society is opening up to anyone who wants to bring their own instrument to jam! They play from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 


 

They will have four food booths with pastalaya, spaghetti, fried alligator, and sausage po’boys. They will also have a snack food booth, bake sale with sweets, water, soft drinks, and beer. The event is free to enter, but bring cash, because tickets are needed for food and beverages. What’s even sweeter is all proceeds go directly into the community through the Junior Auxillary of Houma’s service programs. 

 

There will be a plethora of kid activities, so bring the littles! The Terrebonne Parish Library is providing activities, along with yard games, crafts, corn hole, face painting, and a scavenger hunt. There will also be a Turkey Trot, which is a 2-mile walk/run race, and kids 200-yard dash. Pre-registration is happening now until the Friday before the event, November 12, 2021. The registration fee for the 2-mile race is $20, and $10 for the kid’s 200-yard dash. After the pre-registration deadline, the fees are $5 more. For the adults, the fee does include some tickets to go towards food and beverages, and the kid’s fee includes a prize. Click here to register today!

 

“We really wanted an event to be family-friendly,” Junior Auxillary Board Member Katie Portier said, “We wanted to offer something to the community during this time…it’s been tough.” She said they worked hard on getting a fundraiser event that’s not only affordable but something that you can bring your family to have fun on a Sunday afternoon. 


 

This is the first Turkey Two-Step event of its kind. The organization’s major annual event is Dancing with the Stars, however, like many events, COVID has prevented the organization from putting on the fundraising event for the last two years. Dancing with the Stars finances the service projects for one year, however, now that they haven’t been able to do the major fundraising event, they are needing help. Portier said it’s been a challenge trying to be creative in fundraising not only because of COVID but also amongst the Ida aftermath. She said they had some October things planned, but Ida came along, and they had to put those off. “It’s just one thing after another,” she said,” but we have to keep rolling with the punches because everything that we raise goes right back into our community.” She said they have very little overhead, no staff, and it’s all volunteers, “so it’s important for us to fundraise because they do fund all of our service projects.”

 

Junior Auxillary of Houma currently has 10 service projects where they focus on women and children in need. Three of the projects focus on local group homes, Louis Children Crisis Center, the MacDonell House, and Cooper Dorm. The ladies of the organization take the time to visit teenagers and children who are in the state’s custody to do activities, celebrate birthdays, and spend special time with them during holidays. The organization also has a Sweet Seniors project where they go to the nursing homes and assistant living homes in the area where they spend time with the residents, “this is one that we just love,” Portier said. They go do crafts, play games, paint fingernails, “it’s all about spending quality time with folks who need it. They need a companion, they need someone to come and hang out with them, just being there for them, and being a constant face that they look forward to seeing,” she said. She shared that COVID brought challenges, but they did find ways to stay in contact with the seniors. They couldn’t get directly into the homes to spend time with them, but they did package items such as activities, trivia, games, snacks, and they started a pen pal program so they can stay in touch regardless of the physical separation. 

 

They also have a special project, Santa’s Sneakers, that Portier said will probably be the biggest project this year simply because the need has grown. The project provides hundreds of shoes to children in need for Christmas time. She said they have many more projects that focus on bettering the community, which showcases the mission of the group. Junior Auxiliary is simply a group of women who desire to make a lasting difference in the community by meeting the needs of citizens, but especially women and children in need. 


 

Portier said that members simply go out and makes peoples’ lives a little better, and brings joy into their lives, “it’s such an honor to be able to do that,” she said, “but we do need funds to be able to be able to purchase the things that we’re doing with them. It’s purchasing the shoes, the activities, the meals, and so forth. It does take money, like any organization, and the Turkey Two-Step is another fundraiser that we’re putting out there so hopefully, we can raise some funds to fund these service projects.”

 

She said it has been tough and they’re all tired,” but we’re trying to stay positive and we have to keep in mind, this is not for us,” she said,” this is truly for the kids and for the sweet seniors that love when we come and love when we bring activities. It’s for the kids when we walk through the door who are excited to see us, jumping up and down, and are like what are we going to do today?! That’s why we do it. We’re going to keep pushing and we’re determined!”