Lufkin native launches BBQ event to feed community

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - One Lufkin native led the way to create an event that would feed the community and bring people together.

Sheiletta McGrew, the woman behind Belly Blessings, led an effort to feed hundreds of Angelina County residents with free BBQ in Jones Park. This was a project she said she was called to do.

“One day, I was riding down the street, and God gave me a vision to come back and feed his people here in Lufkin,” McGrew said. “I sent out a call to my family, and we did it, and this is our second time doing it, and it’s just inspiring to come back to Lufkin and give back.”

Though McGrew organized this act of kindness, she gives God the credit. “He gave me this, it’s not my thing. None of this is about none of us; it’s him.”

McGrew gets emotional just talking about it.

“It tugs at my heart to be able to do this because we grew up in these streets of Lufkin too,” she said, “and so to come back and do this.”

The BBQ being served to the community is not just standard order, either.

“I’m a cooker; coronations, events, I’m that,” McGrew said. “We are that; we do that, and the people that cook -- if it ain’t good, if I ain’t going to eat it, you ain’t going to eat it.”

Mcgrew thanked Pepsi, Goye, her family and Champions for Children for supporting her efforts. She is hoping Belly Blessings will become a non-profit organization to continue feeding others at a larger scale.

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