BEAUMONT, Texas — First responders serve the Southeast Texas community, but today it was their turn to be served.
Five different businesses came together at J. W’s Patio to serve the hometown heroes a good meal on Wednesday.
J. W’s patio, Rao's bakery, Renegade Industrial, Mason Construction and N&T Construction joined together to put on the event.
The third annual “BBQ and Brown Water” lunch is a way of showing gratitude to first responders for all that they do.
EMT’s, police officers and firefighters packed the tables at the patio, where they were served BBQ chicken, sausage links and tea.
Beaumont Police Officer, Haley Morrow, says that it was a great time getting to fellowship with co-workers and other first responders.
"To spend time with coworkers that we don't necessarily get to see a lot. Because we're all in different units, and different divisions, and work different days," said Morrow.
When the five businesses came up with the idea in 2019, they just wanted to give back to the people keep us safe.
Vice President of Administration for Mason Construction, Chad Mason, says that they were just a group of friends that came together to give back to their community.
"We're all business owners, and decided we wanted to do something to give back to the community,” said Mason, “And we thought the best way to do that was show our first responders how much we appreciate them.”
The organizers say that they do plan on continuing this event next year.