Dinner a community affair

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Voters return to polls Saturday to decide governor
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Turkey and all the trimmings are on the menu for this weekend’s fourth annual Down Da Bayou Community Thanksgiving Dinner, a free event inspired by one man’s desire to lend a helping hand to anyone in need of a little holiday cheer.

Dulac resident Bosco Chaisson is the force behind the event. Fueled by a lifelong desire to help others, he partnered with the Dulac Knights of Columbus and applied for a grant through Sam’s Club, which provides money to support the needs of communities across the country.

After receiving grant approval for the inaugural dinner in 2012, Bosco set out to spread the word to everyone he knew. Some know him from his work with local Cajun band Treater, who will perform during this year’s dinner, while others are familiar with him from his involvement with three area Carnival clubs.


“Some people I get donations from, I was their bartender,” he said. “I used to work at a place called The Lighthouse, back in the early ’70s, and they help me out.”

This year’s menu is a classic Thanksgiving meal, Bosco said, featuring baked turkey and ham, rice dressing, corn, sweet potatoes, soft drinks and desserts.

Everything is provided by Bourg Supermarket and Sam’s Club and will all be cooked by the Terrebonne Parish’s Sheriff’s Office at the parish jail. Employees from the Terrebonne Parish Drug Court will also be on hand to serve the food and keep tables cleared and the venue, the Grand Caillou Recreational Center, tidy. He said the volunteers are so committed to the work, in fact, that he has to remind them to take breaks.


“I gotta go tell them to take a break because they’ll just keep on working,” Chaisson said, laughing.

Preparations for the big event begin early in the year, with the grant application submitted around March and meal plans and monetary sponsorships garnered at the beginning of September. Nearly 500 people are expected at this year’s holiday event.

“Last year, 496 people showed up,” Chaisson said. “When I buy my plates, I have 500.1 had four plates left over last year out of500… I turn nobody down. I have people from five parishes that have been coming to my dinner. A lot of people from St. Charles, Jefferson, Lafourche and St. Mary.”


Next year, Chaisson hopes to add a Christmas dinner to his work.

Last year, Bosco’s work included some 40 fundraisers and benefits for locals in need of financial assistance. But for now, his sight is set on another successful Thanksgiving meal, an event he said is symbolic of something he never had and is happy to now provide for others.

“It means a lot to me,” he said. “When I was coming up, I didn’t have all that. When I was coming up, if we had meat on Sunday, we were lucky. Everything we ate was fresh green beans, fresh corn and fresh potatoes. That was our meals, so I’ve always wanted to help people.”


The Down Da Bayou Thanksgiving Community Dinner is set for Saturday, from 6-10:30 p.m., at the Grand Caillou Recreation Center, 106 Badou Drive, Dulac. The dinner is co-sponsored by the Terrebonne Fellowship Masonic Lodge No. 481. There is no alcohol or smoking at the event.

‘When I was coming up, if we had meat on Sunday, we were lucky. Everything we ate was fresh green beans, fresh corn and fresh potatoes. That was our meal, so I’ve always wanted to help people.’

Bosco Chaisson


Bosco shops for hams Monday morning in preparation for this weekend’s Down Da Bayou Thanksgiving Community Dinner, in which he and a host of volunteers will serve a holiday meal to several hundred local residents.

MELISSA DUET | THE TIMES