09/14/2017
So…a little back story…my friend Wild Tom Biernatzki and I organized a cook for first responders after the Denham Springs/Acadiana floods last year. We cooked over 3000 meals in one day in Albany outside Pumpkin Center at the local volunteer fire station and had enough food left to make a sizable donation to the food bank in Abbeville of chicken and cooking supplies with help from my good friend David Bertrand at Shucks!.
So it was inevitable when we saw the happenings of Houston and the Golden Triangle area that we agreed to do it again…. We hit up friends, vendors and even customers for support. Shell offered a 2 for 1 match to all dollars raised up to $7500, Tom (working the New Orleans and Mandeville areas) got a large donation from Pelican and his employer Todd Thompson with TECO (Thompson Equipment Company), Craig was able to get Poche’s meats, I worked with Dwight’s Restaurant and Quest Safety Solutions to start bringing in from the Acadiana Area. After getting our company more involved (CE Oil Tool) Rebecca, Richard and Dianne all started calling around and getting supplies donated. Don’s downtown, LaMarche’ in Maurice, La Pizzeria, Shucks! In Abbeville, Albertsons (Kaliste and Ambassador), Pop- A-Lock (BIG shout out to Sam Landers and his support!), members of the Krewe’s of Xanadu and Triton, EIU (Electrical and Instrumentation Unlimited…thanks for the trailer usage Steve), WHC, Darren with Crowley Sewing Center(and the BOXES of school uniforms) and I know I am likely forgetting some…
So then the logistics really kicked up!! Collectively over 5000 # of food supplies was gathered, 21 pallets of bottled water, two cast iron pots, one party grill and “Lardass” our smoker trailer. We solicited help from ACME transportation and Josh Leblanc(Leblanc Motor Werks) to help get it all there. We all gathered up supplies at the shop starting in Mandeville Monday afternoon. Cooked up a Jambalaya and Pastalaya Tuesday morning, trayed it, and met at Super 1 in Scott. With the police es**rt provided by Sheriff Mark Garber, we pulled out…all 9 vehicles!!
So the Jambalaya and Pastalaya we cooked was for our first stop outside Winnie, Tx. We had been contacted by the local volunteer fire chief and he said they needed whatever we could bring. So we stopped and dropped off dinner for them. The Pastor there was very gateful for the hot meal! We promised them we would be back and do some more for them but we had plans to be near Houston that night.
We arrived that night at Second Baptist Church in Cypress Texas. Looking at the map you see how their proximity to the devastation reported at the time made them an ideal location to set up camp to feed volunteers and those affected.
We dropped off our gear, some of the drivers and es**rt went back to Lafayette and we headed to get some rest.
That night Todd and his crew of Friends (who had arrived ahead of us) started the pit and got the Pork Butts rolling…
Wednesday we got after it! Cranked up the Wayne Toups (like any good cajun) and started Grilling, smoking and turning everything from Jamabalaya, chicken qtrs, pulled pork, pork and beans, vegtables, mac and cheese, rice dressing…you name it!! We were able to cook for two days providing lunch and dinner both days. We also had help from Kyle Muth at Anadarko who stopped by Wednesday to help out.
…but you have to admit…sometimes when cooking you just don’t want to keep eating the same thing…so we made PB&J sandwiches…and we devoured them!!
We had a good time at the Second Baptist Church of Winnie, packed up Thursday Night and moved out.
Friday Morning we moved back to First Baptist in Hamshire, TX (Right next to Winnie) where we had dropped off food on way in to Houston. They gave us a great spot under a Pecan tree and set up our cooking campsite.
We proceeded to get a great dinner prepared and start making preparations for Saturday’s meals.
That night we all slept in the shelter on cots.
But only after we got told to turn the music down and tone it down a bit…
We met some great people and got to speak to a lot of families who were helping others tear out and clean up after flooding. A lot of the volunteer fire department would swing by regularly to sample and help us out with anything we needed.
We want to also thank Jenni Tule and Bob Buck for lending some big hands Saturday! Kyle and Craig headed out Saturday AM and Tom had to leave due to impending Irma concerns with his family. Rebecca and I would have been totally overloaded if not for them helping out!
So that night we rigged down around midnight and got everything packed up to be able to head out for Beaumont early Sunday AM. We got us a couple more “cot hours” and hitched up at 5:30AM to head out!
Sunday we teamed up with some good friends and fellow volunteers from Sky High and Able Fasteners to feed as many first responders as we could! We did our best to unload the box!!
And do that we did…
Thanks to Richard Messa and Extreme Energy Services we were able to send out over 1500 plates that Sunday. We sent them to Hospitals, firehouses, police stations, paramedics, and various other first responders.
We had numerous volunteers that day helping and the weather was awesome!
Later that day we traveled home for some much needed rest!
In the end we fed in our best judgement well over 5000 plates of food from Tuesday to Sunday following Harvey’s “tour” of southeast Texas. From people who had been…
…directly affected by Harvey
…those who put help before self and risked all to rescue
…and those who came to help rebuild after.
For the crew who worked with us no amount of thanks can be given to all that helped get this done. It truly was an amazing week. I especially want to thank my wife Rebecca for hanging with me for the week, couldn’t have done it without you.
Oh!
If anyone needs to borrow an ice chest…I know where a few are
