The WoodmenLife organization honors those who serve in different way throughout the year each year. As the summer rolls around, it is once again time to get out the grill for the annual Hot Dogs for Heroes event.
Brandon Armstrong, recruiting sales manager for WoodmenLife, was one of those cooking and serving the heroes at the Clay Jones Community Building in Durant on Saturday morning and afternoon.
“We’re out here today honoring who we call our ‘local heroes,’ those who put their lives on the line to serve our community – our fire protection, our emergency response, police, highway patrol, EMS – all of the above,” Armstrong said. “Those people that do the things that sometimes we see and sometimes we don’t see, who go above and beyond to protect our communities. And this includes our military.
“We want to honor those individuals who are currently serving or who have served. So we’re out here grilling a bunch of hot dogs, saying ‘Thank you!’, serving them and their families and just having a good day.”
Bryan County Emergency Management Director James Dalton enjoyed a meal and spoke about WoodmenLife’s service for the day and through the year.
“This is a nice gesture that Woodmen do on an annual basis,” Dalton said. “WoodmenLife is a really good supporter of all of our emergency services, not just for hot dogs, but also throughout the year. If we need water or supplies or whatever, they are great to always pitch in.
“They’re are a good organization and they really care about the local first responders, so we do a lot with them.”
‘Local heroes’ from all around Bryan County were in attendance and the day concluded with a flag retirement ceremony for several United State flags being decommissioned.
WoodmenLife is located locally in Durant at 605 W. Evergreen.