Returning the favor

Next Saturday, August 23, the Evangeline Parish community will come together to honor a long-time volunteer, who is now facing a dire health issue.
Bernard C. Meltzer was a radio host for several decades. He once said about people who volunteered in a community, “There is no better exercise for your heart than reaching down and helping to lift someone up.” Roy Chaffin has done this for most of his life.
Roy Chaffin has been diagnosed with ALS (Amotrophic Lateral Scerosis) or commonly called “Lou Gehrig’s disease. It has many symptoms and the outcome is not good. Steve Gleason, a former member of the New Orleans, has ALS and has been in a wheelchair but still doing community work since being diagnosed in 2011.
While the news is dire, the volunteer work of Chaffin and his wife, Sue, is undeniable. First, he is a singer and he has played countless times at festivals, fundraisers, and other events. Several of those events were done at no cost especially at the fundraisers. He never made it to the big time as a musician, but he wrote several songs and made several recordings. His CDs can be purchased at the event. He was well-known in the area and people would follow him.
Roy was a carpenter by trade and made a decent living throughout his career. When he wasn’t playing music he was either hunting, fishing or helping people that needed carpentry work. From what I understand, he did countless projects in most of the parish for people who couldn’t afford a carpenter or couldn’t do the work. He would ask the people or other people in the community to buy the materials and he would come do the work.
I have two instances with just my family. My father needed a new ceiling in his house and my middle son was telling Roy about the project. My son wanted to know how much Roy would charge. Roy asked that we purchase the material and for two weekends, my three sons helped him in repairing the ceiling at no cost. A couple of weeks later, my wife had an unfortunate fall, breaking her hip requiring surgery. We needed a wheelchair ramp. Roy heard about it and while my wife was in rehab he built the ramp a few weeks later complete with a roof. He refused to take money for his work.
But the biggest thing Roy did for our family was to fix a place for my son, who has muscular dystrophy, to hunt along with Roy and Roy’s grandson. Roy built deer stands for him to hunt from, built a small camp where they had suppers and went hunting the next morning. Roy wanted to make sure my son had a place to hunt safety. Since then my son has harvested two deer and continues to use the same stands built by Roy. My family will never forget all the kindness he has provided us over the years.
If he did this for your family just imagine what he has done for other families in the community.
On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the community is holding a benefit for Roy at The Sherman Place (1208 Morrow Lane, Ville Platte) near Crooked Creek.
Admission is $5 and there is a great lineup of musicians scheduled to perform. His son and grandchildren will also be playing. There will be barbecue sausage poboys with chips for $8, You bring your own drinks. There will be a black pot cookout for $100 a team. Contact Darwin Nelson at 337-247-5061 to enter. You can sample the black pot food for a $10 ticket. Also, there will be a live auction.
We need to thank Christy Fontenot, Brandi Thompson and Heidi Causey in helping organize this event.
Roy Chaffin and his wife, Sue, have been a fixture in the local community for many years and their generosity may be matched but never surpassed. This man and his family need our help and I hope the community turns out to help Roy and his family next Saturday. If you come there will be a lot of fun times and laughter. It will be how Roy Chaffin wants it to be.