Woman of the Moose holding Mardi Gras Cancer Benefit
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
Mardi Gras may officially take place on Tuesday, Feb. 21, but for the Women of the Moose, Saturday, Feb. 25 will bring one last evening of fun and celebration as they hold the Mardi Gras Cancer Benefit.
The Mardi Gras Cancer Benefit will be held Saturday, February 25, starting at 4 p.m. with a silent auction beginning at the Moose Lodge of Copperas Cove. The lodge is located at 2828 S. F.M. 116 on the southside of Copperas Cove.
Doors open for the silent auction at 4 p.m. and the auction will close at 8 p.m.
The dinner starts at 6 p.m. and will include traditional Cajun style items such as gumbo, jambalaya and a crawfish boil. Plates will be $12 each, and each purchase of a plate comes with one door prize raffle ticket.
Door prize items include tumblers, cups, Relay for Life shirts and other smaller gift items.
Silent auction items include Round Rock Express tickets (4-pack), a Total Wine private wine class for 20, an autographed photo of Ezekiel Elliott in a Dallas Cowboys basket, a crocheted blanket, a NASCAR themed basket, a history book and family pass donated by the Dr. Pepper Museum, Kendra Scott earrings donated by Pink Warrior Angels, and more.
Entertainment will be provided by DJ Dak Out at no cost to the Women of the Moose.
Raffle tickets are currently being sold for a YETI gift basket with a cooler and tumblers. Tickets are $5 for 1 or $20 for five tickets. To purchase tickets, readers can contact the Moose Lodge at 254-547-2680.
Funds raised from the benefit will go to two Copperas Cove residents who are battling cancer: C.J. Sowell and Tammy McIntire.
C.J. Sowell is a prekindergarten paraprofessional at Mae Stevens Early Learning Academy and has served as Cove Santa for over a decade.
Sharon Miles, one of the Women of the Moose organizers for the event, said she works with Sowell and said that he is “part of my heart.”
“C.J. has just been a very big part of the community that I'm aware of, with Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful in the past, and as Santa, and when I found out he was ill, it just really tugged at me, so I wanted to do something for him,” Miles said.
Sowell has served as a volunteer Santa for Copperas Cove’s Krist Kindl Markt every year since 2012, except for 2022 when he was recovering from surgery.
The other individual who will benefit from the Mardi Gras Cancer Benefit is Tammy McIntire, who is a member of the Moose Lodge.
McIntire has been a member of the Moose Lodge for more than a decade, according to Miles. “My husband joined in 2009, and she has been a member since long before then,” Miles said. McIntire has been the Senior Regent and the Secretary for the Women of the Moose Chapter, and she has also been the Secretary for the Moose Riders. She currently is serving as a three-year Trustee for the Moose Lodge.
McIntire has volunteered with the Moose Lodge for Bearables, the Cove House, Copperas Cove Nursing and Rehab and has helped give Thanksgiving meals to families in need, as well as Christmas gifts to students in need. She has also participated in the Blessing of the Bikes at Moose Heart and the 22 Ride in Oklahoma to support awareness for veteran suicides.
The Women of the Moose is a chapter under the umbrella of the Moose Lodge. The national Moose Lodge organization has two charitable extensions: Moose Heart and Moose Haven. Moose Heart is a facility located on a 1,000-acre campus in Illinois that serves as a home for children and teens in need. Moose Haven is a private membership retirement community for senior citizens that is located in Florida.
Miles and her husband joined the Moose Lodge of Copperas Cove in 2009, and at first, they viewed it as a social place to go. Her husband started volunteering with the Moose Lodge more and more after around a year.
“It’s become a family,” Miles said. “I don’t know how else to say it. We are a family. Anybody that we know that is in need, that's part of that, we're going to do whatever we can for.”