Newtown Congregational Church (NCC) announces its popular Mississippi BBQ & Shrimp Boil fundraiser for Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Miss., is planned for Saturday, October 23, from 5 to 6:30 pm, at 14 West Street.

For the second year, pandemic concerns have caused church members to offer the usually indoor event as a take-out event. The meal will include a choice of barbecue chicken, Cajun boiled shrimp, or both chicken and shrimp, plus slaw, biscuit, creole rice, and dessert. Cost for the single entrée choice is $20. The double entrée of chicken and shrimp is $25.

Preorders are required and can be made online by visiting bit.ly/MS-bbq-21 or calling 203-449-6528 or 734-645-6909. Availability is limited and early orders are encouraged.

All fundraiser proceeds will be sent to Back Bay Mission, an outreach of the United Church of Christ, whose mission is captured in its tagline: strengthening neighborhoods, seeking justice, and transforming lives. The mission began in 1922 and has been serving the Biloxi area in various forms ever since.

Over the years, it has focused on health care, civil rights, addiction, active military and veterans’ programs, education, youth development, hunger, and housing.

Since the 1990s, and especially since the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Back Bay Mission has focused on supportive housing for veterans, housing rehabilitation, and low-income housing, as well as emergency assistance such a food pantry and the Micah Day Center where homeless guests enjoy a comfortable environment, access to education and caseworker support, and even showers and a laundromat. The mission has also focused on building immersive volunteer and internship programs, including the work camps in which NCC has participated since 2007.

NCC became involved in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina prompted the congregation to send funds for recovery. In 2006 and 2007 NCC member (and Newtown Bee Associate Editor) Shannon Hicks made a pair of solo trips to join strangers in Back Bay work camp teams. Hicks returned in 2008, this time with NCC adults and college students she had rallied to the cause.

Since then, NCC Senior Pastor Rev Matt Crebbin has joined the Back Bay Mission Board of Directors and until the COVID-19 pandemic, NCC has sent both a college work camp team and an adult work camp team annually, as well as sending youth with the Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Servants (NEWS) program’s quadrennial trip to Back Bay.

Former Newtown resident and NCC member Matthew Cole was so inspired by multiple work trips to Biloxi that he eventually spent 15 months working as a construction supervisor for Back Bay Mission.

The first NCC Shrimp Boil fundraiser in 2013 was inspired by Back Bay Mission’s own signature fundraising event.

As in many previous years, the NCC adult work camp group is organizing this year’s event. Last year, when the traditional indoor meal was impossible due to the pandemic, the adult team shifted the event to the take-out drive-through format to be used again this year.