After seeing the devastation caused in his hometown by Hurricane Katrina on the news, our founder, Chef Gary LeBlanc, knew he had to take action. For the first time in his life, he was compelled to volunteer. He went to New Orleans to do the one thing he knew he could do: feed people. That first night, he cooked and served 400 meals until the food was gone. When he ran out of food and saw that there was still a line of people needing to be fed, he prayed that he would never again run out of food. As we honor and remember the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we remember the heartbreak that followed the storm and changed Gary’s life forever, setting him on a new course to serve better food in the aftermath of disasters. ❤️ #HurricaneKatrina #VoicesofKatrina #20YearsLater #NewOrleans #Louisiana #DisasterRelief (fb)

“The early reports were that things were okay in New Orleans,” Gary shared. “And then all of a sudden we started to hear that levees broke, and that the city was filling with water.” On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and tore through Louisiana as a Category 3 storm, making history as one of the United States’ deadliest disasters. At the time, our Founder, Gary LeBlanc, was watching the news from Virginia, as the city of New Orleans—the place he'd called home for 20 years—took the worst of the storm. The devastatingly famous shot of people standing on the bridge waiting to be rescued is an image that Gary has never forgotten. He could see the faces of people he knew and worked with stranded in New Orleans. He knew he had to do something to help. “I couldn't just text $10,” Gary said. “I had to do something, and I was just moved to do the only thing that I knew to do. I defaulted to my roots. I went and fed people.” This week, we’ll be revisiting the impact that Katrina made on New Orleans, disaster relief, and the hearts of our founders.#HurricaneKatrina #20YearsLater #HurricaneSeason #DisasterRelief #RememberingKatrina (fb)