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Ritch's Red Raiders: It's all about the kids
This awesome event started out when a friend of Red, who is a special education teacher, brought by eight students to visit. Red bought them tickets and invited them to hang out with him for the day. This year over 350 kids got a chance to be fed and entertained by this impressive group of people. Twelve buses were used to transport the kids down to the cooking site at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Barbecue Championship where they were admitted for free by the event.
We salute this entire staff and Red himself for such a gracious act of kindness. The real thanks everyone involved gets is captured in the photos Frank Boyer submitted to us — smiles, smiles, and more smiles on the faces of Houston 's kids. |
Year after year, Red Ritch uses barbecue to put smiles on kids' faces. He has been doing this for over 15 years now and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. While other teams are busy setting up and cooking for corporate sponsors, Red, along with many other volunteers, will help to entertain some of Houston 's special needs kids. 
This event now involves a year's worth of planning and countless hours of preparation, which is all headed up by Red himself. Red told us, “I take one week off after the event, and then we start preparing for next year's event.” The following statement reflects Red best: “A person has never stood as tall as when they bend down to help a kid.” Prior to the event this year, the kids were asked to submit a drawing for a contest in which the winner had their drawing printed on T-shirts every kid received as part of a goodie bag. Isle of Capri also helped fill the goodie bags with lots of stuffed animals. 
Red has spread this theory around to everyone who helps him pull off this magnificent event each and every year. Over 40 clowns were brought in this year, as well as a fire truck from local station 21. These guys needed as much cheering up as the kids did due to the fact that they lost one of their members just a few weeks prior to the event. Long Horn Cookers, Outback Steakhouse, and Coca-Cola helped feed each and every kid lunch during the afternoon. Another club called the Double D Girls (Diamonds to Dollars Girls) also volunteered their time and effort to help put some smiles on the kids' faces. Megan Miller really got the kids laughing with the puppet show she did.
