Roadkill, Wild Game On the Menu for Sickle Cell Fundraiser

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity served up dishes of wild game, including roadkill, during the 12th Annual Holiday Tea sponsored by the Jackson/George Counties Sickle Cell Association Inc. on June 11 at Pelican Landing in Moss Point. They called their table Le Repas Aujord Cafe during the annual fundraiser.

For the Public

What: Jackson/George Counties Association for Sickle Cell Disease 12th Annual Holiday Tea

When: 3-6 p.m. Saturday, June 11

Where: Jackson County Civic Center, county fairgrounds, Pascagoula

FYI: Tickets are $5 at the door
Contact: Sharon Haynes, executive director, at 228-769-3170, or the agency at 228-769-6516.

PASCAGOULA -- Wild game, namely roadkill, has been among the favorite foods served each year during the summer fundraiser for the Jackson/George Counties Association for Sickle Cell Disease, Inc.

Robert Jennings said members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity call their menu "U.S. 49 Wild Hog Cuisine," which will be served at the assoication's 12th Annual Holiday Tea on Saturday afternoon at the county fairgrounds.

"One guy is going to do deer. He's calls it scrap roast," said Jennings. "Grover Lett is going to do 'coon, rabbit and squirrel."

Alice Bradley, fundraiser chairwoman, said funds from the event helps parents and their children afflicted by the inherited and chronic blood disease. Victims, whose life span usually reaches into the 40s, suffer debilitating pain, organ failure and death caused by the lack of oxygen from the sickling of red blood cells.

Normal and sickle cell red blood cells

She said the 2011 fundraiser is expected to include about nine other community groups who decorate tables and prepare dishes based on the holiday theme they are protraying for the event. Christmas, Easter, Valentine Day, Independence Day are among celebrations. Participants include area sororities, fraternities, churches and other groups.

Each year, there is the unknown, but always official holiday and its menu that captures the attention and imagination of participants and guests who support the sickle cell association and enjoy the feast of holidays.

"Last year we had Cowboy Day," said Bradley. "It's a recognized holiday."

Prizes are given for the best presentation. Cowboy Day and a creative biblical theme from a Pascagoula church have been among the winning presentations.

"They (participants) have different tables. They are going to pick any holiday. They will be judged on the table," she said.

Alpha Phi Alpha is celebrating the Buffalo Soldier, originally members of the Army's 10th Calvary Regiment formed during 1866 in Kansas. The name became synonymous with all African-American soldiers.

Sam Osgood, an executive at Hunington Ingalls Industries, will provide a family recipe of dirty rice, said Jennings. "It's not going to be the box thing. It's going to be gizzards and livers like his grandmama taught him how to cook it."

Jennings is excited about his fraternity's contribution, and is looking forward to competing against dishes provided by sororities and other community groups participating in the event. Jennings looks eagerly anticipates the women tasting and devouring the wildlife dishes, no matter how they try to protest or pretend they won't touch the stuff, he laughed.

"We men can't do all that (cornbread) dressing and other stuff," he said Wednesday. "But we can cook roadkill. We just fan the flies and pick it up."

Bradley agreed. "They have been doing that for years," she said. "And it's good. It's actually good. They do all kinds of things."

Jennings spent Wednesday afternoon preparing wild hog. "I've got this guy coming down from Southaven (Miss.) He's bringing wild hog roast. I'm going to start marinating it today so it will taste good for those ladies," he said.

Bradley said fundraiser is one of two annual events that the Jackson/George Counties Association for Sickle Cell Disease Inc., a nonprofit agency, uses to bring awareness to the disease and to raise funds that provide free testing and genetic counseling to the sufferers of the disease and residents who carry the trait. Sickle cell disease or anemia strikes about one in every 500 African Americans, as well as other U.S. residents and people worldwide who live in are have ancestors from tropical climates.

The association sponsors a Prayer Breakfast during September. "It's to enhance the awareness of sickle cell," said Bradley.

As well, a fashion show and yard sale during the year bring in funds for the United Way agency.

During May, she said, the association sponsored a blood drive at Moss Point High School. "It's to call attention to what we are trying to do," said Bradley.