Sooner Bar-B-Q will add to its holiday offerings

Comments Comment on this article1

BY BRYAN DEAN
Published: November 23, 2008


Cecil and Elaine Clay will provide a free Thanksgiving dinner in their restaurant Sooner Bar-B-Q, SW 35 and Western. PHOTO BY JACONNA AGUIRRE, The Oklahoman

It may sound like bad business for a restaurant owner to give food away, but Cecil Clay does it with a smile.

Advertisement

Clay, the owner of Sooner Bar-B-Q at SW 35 and Western Avenue, often helps those who are hungry when they ask. He also hosts a free Christmas dinner each year, and this year he’s decided to feed anyone who needs a meal on Thanksgiving.

Clay, who turns 71 Monday, said he can tell people need the help right now.

"We’ve been feeding people out the back door all along,” Clay said. "Most of the time the people we feed are street people. In the last month, we’ve been feeding families — people who are working and are not making it.”

He said he tells people there is no reason to let their children go hungry and offers whatever he can.

"The hardest thing for me is when I go to that back door, and you talk to someone who has never had to ask for help,” Clay said.

"I’m more than happy to do it, but it is really degrading to them to have to ask. I do my best to make them feel good that we are here to help. If we’ve got it, they can have it.”

What’s on the menu?

Thanksgiving at Sooner Bar-B-Q will include turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and other traditional items, though Clay said he decided against serving dressing because he wasn’t sure the shoulder he recently broke could handle the prep work.

Christmas dinner usually attracts about 1,200 people, and Clay expects at least that many on Thanksgiving.

"We’ll be here from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or until we run out of food or they quit coming,” Clay said, adding, "We’ve never run out of food.”


 

Related Topics: Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Foods, Fruits and Vegetables, House and Home, Entertaining

Toolbar sponsored by: David Stanley Ford
Ads by Yahoo!

Hugh Downs Reports:
Natural discovery lowers high blood pressure and cuts artery plaque.
www.bottomlinesecrets.com
Sarah Palin
Run for 2012? 15 sec. Poll. Chance for Gift Card.
Poll-Lingo.com

shareView All

Buzz Up!


Leave a Comment

Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online

Thank you for joining our conversations on newsok. We encourage your discussions but ask that you stay within the bounds of our terms and conditions. Please help us by reporting comments that violate these guidelines. To review our rules of engagement, go to Commenting and posting policy.


Log in below or sign up (it's free).





Bless you and all things dear to you.
P, Sulphur - Nov 23, 2008 at 9:17 am
Report as inappropriate or
Ignore P

    News Photo Galleriesview all