The Community Outreach Missionary Organization is holding its last Senior Citizens Appreciation Day Saturday with a carnival for those 60 and up in the community.

For the last 20 years, Laurine Pettway, one of the founders and the current director of COMO, has been planning and throwing the party each year to show the seniors just how much they mean to her and the community.

“Words can’t describe what it meant to especially me and my husband because, … we give a lot back of not only our time but we [also] put a lot of money into this,” Pettway said. “We just get joy. This is our Christmas. I don’t go shopping for myself, … this is our Christmas. We take our money and put it back into this for them.”

Pettway and her husband Putzel own Selma Family Restaurant, better known as All in One.

“We love to give,” Pettway said. “So this is a way that we can give back to the community through the business because a lot of the senior citizens do patronize us and this is our way of saying thank you.”

Pettway said giving back is something she felt she needed to do to thank those that came before her and helped raise her generation.

“I think it’s very important [to give back to the senior citizens] because they are the ones that paved the way for us,” Pettway said. “We feel like it’s time that the younger generation appreciates and honors them for their wisdom and knowledge and the courage that they had before us to show us and direct us in the way that we should go as the younger generation.”

When the appreciation day first started, Pettway said there was maybe 50 people there, but this year, they sold 300 tickets.

“Each year, it grew bigger and bigger and larger and larger,” she said.

When the event started 20 years ago, a small group of women decided they wanted to give back.

“It was a group of ladies that came together and had a vision to just bless the people in the city of Selma,” Pettway said. “A lot of people say ‘well why are you making this your last one’ because I’m not young like I used to be. This takes a lot of organizing and pulling it together and I’m a senior myself now.”

Pettway also said that she is going to take more time to spend with her two grandchildren, but that she hopes someone will pick up where she left off and continue to show love and support to the seniors in the community. During the event each year, several prizes are given out, from food to a TV, a bed and more. Pettway said she just enjoys giving them prizes and watching their reactions to winning.

“It’s just amazing to see the senior citizens’ face when they win something and how they jump for joy,” Pettway said. “It’s just amazing to see how thankful and appreciative they are for us doing this for them.”