As Alabama people began to dig out and clean up in the aftermath of Saturday’s severe storms and tornados, a restaurant in Chilton County was there to help them.
Valle Grande Mexican Grill fired up its ovens and started cooking on Sunday morning, according to Facebook posts from the restaurant’s Maplesville location. The restaurant shared the post with its locations in Clanton and Valley Grande near Selma.
The goal was to feed people in the Maplesville area who’ve been affected by the storms, along with first responders and other volunteers. Maplesville was one of several cities in central Alabama that experienced storm damage overnight, along with Calera, Gordo, Pletcher, Sipsey and more.
“Good morning, everyone,” Valle Grande’s team posted on Facebook, around 8 a.m. on Sunday. “We hope you and your families are okay. We are cooking right now to bring food to the men and women working to clear roads and repair damaged properties, as well as those who lost their homes or don’t have a way to cook for their families right now.”
It was mission accomplished by around 1 p.m., as Valle Grande Mexican Grill reported in its next Facebook post. Nearly 1,800 plates of food were given out in Maplesville, Isabella and Plantersville, the post said. And workers from all three restaurants had pitched in.
“We’ve finally run out of food!” the post said. “It’s been an incredible day helping our community. Can’t thank our employees enough who came to help from our Clanton, Maplesville, and Selma locations to cook all this food, and also can’t thank all the volunteers enough who came to help us bag food and deliver.
“We ran out of food here in Maplesville and had to bring all the inventory from our Selma location to keep cooking, so proud of our team. We were able to cook almost 1800 plates of food between the communities of Maplesville, Isabella, and Plantersville.
“This is what community is all about: helping each other, because we never know when it would be us on the other side needing help.”
Storms were widespread throughout the state on Saturday night and into the early hours on Sunday, resulting in multiple reports of damaged buildings and vehicles. Two people were killed in Dallas County when the storms ripped through, and a man in Talladega County died when his mobile home was destroyed.
Communities have banded together as recovery efforts begin, including residents of the small farming community of Gordo.
An Atmore church destroyed during the storms held a prayer meeting in the parking lot on Sunday morning, not far from the aftermath of a devastating fire.