This annual event in Winnfield grew out of a practice begun by Shelia Mitchell of getting a meal together and inviting her neighbors to come to her yard and partake of it with her, including ministers from the community who might share the Word with the people in the yard throughout the day. Over several years, the number of people served in Shelia’s yard grew so that her kitchen and her yard couldn’t contain the event, and she needed more help in preparing the meals.

When Shelia joined with Jane Purser and Mary Lou Blackley to form Caring & Sharing in Unity for our Community Winnfield in 2019, the group began sponsoring what is now known as the Winn Community Feast hosted by Laurel Heights Baptist Church in 2020 and 2021. 

In 2022, through the generosity of the City of Winnfield and its mayor, George Moss, the location was moved to the Winnfield Civic Center on the Winn Parish Fair Grounds, which has continued under the administration of current Winnfield Mayor Gerald Hamms. 

The entire community is invited to attend and share a meal together at the civic center on Saturday, February 10, between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Deliveries will be made to those in the  community who are physically unable to get out to the civic center, what with flu and COVID going around. Some limited “take-out” will also be available.

“We do the feast as an expression and celebration of God’s love for every person in the community and invite anyone who wants to come and share a good hot meal. We want everyone in our community to come together, learn to care for each other, share their needs, goals and aspirations, and work together to help each other,” say the organizers of the event.