15 years of bringing awareness
Jan. 19—The Mighty Oaks Foundation is moving into the 15th year of hosting the Annual Warrior Banquet set for Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Walker County Fairgrounds.
The events long history is a faith-based filled with serving veterans who have served the United States, and returned home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The Mighty Oaks Foundation looks to the Walker County community for help in serving the nation's veterans by raising funds to help rectify the cost of service with the annual banquet.
The 2024 Warrior Banquet is set to take place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Walker County Fairgrounds. The doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Those in attendance can expect a steak dinner and all of the fixings, a live and silent auction with a variety of top dollar items and gun raffles, with several guns included in each set.
Sharon Fordyce, who was one of the organizers of the banquet along with her husband and Vietnam veteran, Tom, said there will be a wine pull.
The speakers for the event will include Chad Prather and Chad Robichaux. Robichaux is a Marine and the founder of the Mighty Oaks Foundation.
Prather is best known for his comedy, as well as videos where he is an "unapologetic champion" of viewers worldwide. His ability to entertain from behind the wheel of his truck has drawn fans across the nation and especially in Texas.
He even tried his hand at running for Governor of Texas. According to his website, watchchad.com, fans of the fast-talking, observational humorist have branded him 'a modern day Will Rogers.'
For Prather, taking yourself too seriously is the truest form of self-sabotage, and life is too short for that.
He has made Texas his home for the past two decades.
The Warrior Banquet serves as a way to provide relief for the nation's wounded veterans who have faced or are currently facing their own battles, including injuries that took place during war or challenges coping with life once returned home.
"This is a huge event in this town and county, as well as surrounding counties," said Tom Fordyce, secretary of the Mighty Oaks Warrior Foundation and Warrior Banquet event organizer. "Walker County has always stepped up to the plate and has been a huge help in providing donations and auction items."
The Mighty Oaks Foundation is a service organization that teaches combat Veterans struggling with PTSD how to get beyond combat trauma and live their lives in the manner God intended.
Many combat vets are unable to reintegrate back into civilian life, leaving their families to deal with the aftermath of broken homes and suicide at times.
"By aligning their lives to Biblical principles, these Warriors are able to lead their families, their communities and our nation. Our mission is to serve and restore our nation's Warriors and families, who have endured hardship through their service to America, and to help them find a new life purpose through hope in Christ and our resiliency and peer-to-peer recovery programs, according to the website at www.mightyoaksprograms.org.
The event has raised over $2 million to date, all of which has been redistributed to veterans within branches of the Mighty Oaks Warrior Foundation across the nation.
Through the generosity of the community, the nonprofit has been able to impact the lives of over 500,000 veterans, providing individualized support to those in need of free of charge, through treatment and assistance programs targeting PTSD, divorce and suicide.
"The sole purpose of this event is to help give back and support our veterans. There is no profit made for us in this event," Warrior Banquet organizer Rusty Davis explained.
Tickets are $55 each or $400 for a table of eight and can be purchased over the phone by calling Fordyce at 936-661-2122 or Davis at 936-438-6534. Tickets can also be purchased in person at H.E.A.R.T.S. Veterans Museum in Huntsville.
