Trout Creek school honors local heroes

The Trout Creek School gymnasium was busy with people gathered to eat BBQ and donate to the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) last Friday. Food was cooked by Trout Creek Catering, Smoke Showin. Tickets to eat were $5 and donations for the WWP were separate, according to Trout Creek Principal Preston Wenz. Smoke Showin BBQ cooked the food free of charge. The school provided the food, Wenz said. Darin and Chrystal Scott served their business's fare along with student volunteers from Trout Creek and the private academy schools.

"We had 120 RSVP reservations by the November deadline, but served 155 dinners," Wenz said. That money will go back into the school activities fund. The goal was to raise $250 for WWP. "We raised $446," Wenz added.

The dinner began with the pledge of allegiance and a prayer from Steve Freerksen. "Freerksen likes to come to our school and pray, so I asked him to pray over dinner. The dinner went very well and the food was great," Wenz said.

Desi Styger, a local Navy veteran said, "My dad is an Army veteran and would never have come this for himself, so I told him we are going. It is for a very important cause."