Helping hands after Hurricane Idalia
Hurricane Idalia made landfall along Florida’s Big Bend in late August before heading into Georgia and then further northeast. While the storm swept over a sparsely populated region, it heavily impacted many small, tight-knit communities. WCK used a tailor-made strategy of centralized distribution sites along with door-to-door deliveries to ensure that we provided food to anyone who needed it.
As our response grew, we established fifteen different distribution sites—as far south as Cedar Key, Florida, and as far north as Valdosta, Georgia—to ensure we reached every remote community in need of support. This broad reach is thanks to the adaptability of our incredible partners—18 food trucks along with three brick and mortar restaurants. Here are just a handful of stories behind the nearly 95,000 meals we served in the wake of Hurricane Idalia.
Horseshoe Beach, FL
WCK reached Horseshoe Beach, a community that took the brunt of Idalia’s impact, within hours of the storm passing. Sam, WCK’s Director of Emergency Response, spent the hours after the storm in a helicopter doing aerial assessments and met Jeff, the mayor of Horseshoe Beach, as soon as he touched down there. The mayor was surprised to see WCK arrive so quickly, with much-needed food and water in hand. Aerial assessments are an important part of WCK’s immediate response following a disaster as they help quickly direct our ground teams to areas of need.
Steinhatchee, FL
Ben and his family own Roy’s Restaurant—a business that has been part of the community for more than half a century. Idalia shattered the windows through which guests could watch the sunset while enjoying dinner. In the photo below, Ben is standing with his friend, Leslie, who has operated the boat lift at the Steinhatchee River Inn and Marina since 1995. The marina, just a mile and a half down the road from Roy’s, was also torn to pieces by Idalia. Our teams provided Ben and Leslie with sandwiches and water so they had fuel to assess the damage and move forward with cleanup efforts—with enormous help from their community.
Mayo, FL
Michel from the El Orgullo Latino Kitchen food truck shows one of the delicious meals they served to the Mayo community. Their team has a lot to be proud of, from their food to their business itself—which is entirely owned and operated by Latina women. This is their fifth response with WCK and they have worked with us all over the state of Florida, always ready to jump in when there is need. A group of first responders helping with the Idalia cleanup even recognized the truck from our response to the Surfside building collapse in 2021.
Branford, FL
Autumn and her team from Spontaneous Consumption served over 750 meals of BBQ pulled pork with black beans and rice for families in Branford impacted by Hurricane Idalia. They also packed up another hundred meals into totes that were driven throughout the surrounding area to be delivered to people who couldn’t reach our centralized distribution site. At WCK, we call this “the last mile delivery,” making sure that we go the distance to reach anyone who cannot make it to us.
Valdosta, GA
In Valdosta, Idalia downed trees left many without power—including Chef Joey and his wife Anna of Grinnin’ Possum food truck. The first day they partnered with WCK, they were using the same generator to power their food truck that they were using to power their home. That didn’t stop them from whipping up some of the best shrimp and grits that our teams have ever tasted. Joey drove 120 miles from Valdosta down to Jacksonville, FL to get the freshest shrimp, showing just how much heart they put into feeding their community.
As our teams worked hard to feed people in need, impacted communities came together to clean up after the storm. People with chainsaws helped cut trees to clear roads, utility workers restored power, and neighbors rallied to help one another muck out houses and businesses. As the region moves towards long term recovery, the need for meal support is decreasing and our teams were able to wind down operations.
Learn more about our efforts here. For real-time updates, follow WCK on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Help us keep providing meals by making a donation here.
