Bradshaw
Evergreen Life Services is hosting its eighth annual Celebrity Waiter event, but this year’s festivities are taking on a football theme and will be headlined by none other than Louisiana’s own Terry Bradshaw.
The Celebrity Waiter Goes Tailgating event is hosted by Evergreen to celebrate the individuals in the area with developmental or intellectual disabilities.
Terri Axelson, chief resource development officer for Evergreen, says this year’s event promises to be the best yet.
“We stepped up,” Axelson said. “We made it bigger by moving the event to the CenturyLink Center. Also, we changed it up a little bit by bringing in so many celebrity guests.”
The event will kick off at 6 p.m., April 9, with tickets being sold at $80 per person. There will be plenty of food and drink vendors on site, in addition to live music, a player memorabilia auction, E-games and presentations from Louisiana football legends.
Terry Howell, an administrative assistant at Evergreen Life Services in Minden, says the event serves as a night out for their special needs friends.
“They want to do the same things as you and me,” Howell said. “To have their lives be as normal as possible. People come up and talk to them, they get to dance and dress up and this year the Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State cheerleaders are going to come and teach them a cheer that they will perform.”
Axelson said the star-studded list of football legends includes NFL Hall of Famer and former Pittsburgh Steeler and Louisiana Tech quarterback Terry Bradshaw, former NFL and LSU quarterback Josh Booty, former NFL fullback and LSU running back Jacob Hester, former Atlanta Falcons and LSU cornerback James Britt, former NFL and University of Arkansas quarterback Joe Ferguson, NFL Hall of Famer and former Louisiana Tech defensive end Fred Dean, former NFL and LSU/Northwestern State wide receiver Charlie Hennigan and former Baltimore Colts/Louisiana Tech punter and Minden’s own David Lee.
“What we wanted to do was celebrate hometown spirit and hometown heroes,” Axelson said. “We chose a theme of football because we knew of so many former and current football players from our north Louisiana area than any other sport. We take our football seriously around here.”
For Lee, a Super Bowl V champion with the Colts and proud Minden High alumni and resident of Minden, the chance to work with a great organization for an even greater cause was an easy one.
“Any time you can get out and help a person’s situation or a place like Evergreen it’s a good thing,” Lee said. “I’m proud to say I’m from Minden and this event is really beneficial for our area. It’s great to have people like Terry Bradshaw from the area get involved in making it a success.”
Evergreen has been providing high quality care and equipping individuals with job skills necessary to live the life they want since 1959 when they got their start in the pinewoods of northwest Louisiana.
Today, Evergreen is proud to serve more than 1,300 individuals over seven states: Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida.