In an effort to return to a resemblance of normal, but not return to pandemic isolation, Governor Cuomo announced a partnership between New York State Parks and Tentrr, a company that equips campers with campsites, canvas-wall tents, a comfortable bed, an Adirondack chair to watch the stars, and .
Operation BBQ Relief continues to grow after its creation during Joplin tornado
Operation BBQ Relief got its start doing disaster relief at the Joplin tornado.
and last updated 2021-05-19 10:30:47-04
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. â Stan Hays always gets the same question â Did you have any idea your trip to Joplin, Missouri, to feed people after the tornado would lead to a nonprofit and a new, full-time job?
The answer is no. And rightfully so. How could the Pleasant Hill man have predicted a somewhat spur of the moment volunteer effort with his competition barbecue teammates would lead to Operation BBQ Relief? The organization now has 25 employees in 11 states, plus trucks and smokers on standby in Texas, Georgia and California in case of a tornado or wildfire.
Coming off Exit 85 on the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway, a funny thing happens to drivers when they’re about halfway down the hill heading into Sylva they start to get hungry.
It isn’t the chain restaurants dotting the busy four-lane road, nor is it the sense of nourishment needed after another day running around the mountains. Rather, it’s the tantalizing scent of fresh barbecue wafting into your vehicle.
“We’ve got barbecue until we don’t, then you’ll just have to come back tomorrow,” Tim Fisk said. “We don’t want to make so much barbecue that it just sits around by doing that, the quality of the barbecue suffers. It’s all about freshness and making everything from scratch, every single day.”
Then came Thursday.
“We went to check up to do prep,” Zavala says. “I go in there and the first thing I see is water dripping. On the last day! I didn’t even know that we had pipes in the ceiling.”
But the 1967-constructed building had pipes in the ceiling, and they had burst. Water poured out of light fixtures. HVAC systems were damaged, $4,300 of food was ruined. And, most obviously, there was a great big hole in the ceiling, which Zavala jokingly called a “new sunroof” in an Instagram post.
Now the barbecue spot is closed for repairs, with a reopening date uncertain but likely to be in April.