West Virginia Post 1 has teamed with a local caterer to provide and deliver 750 meals a day since flash floods hit the Ohio County area.
In mid-June, heavy storms dropped close to four inches of rain in Ohio County, W.Va., causing damage to hundreds of homes and businesses, resulting in thousands of power outages and taking the lives of at least nine local residents.
Almost immediately, American Legion Post 1 in Wheeling sprang into action, teaming with a local chef and caterer who rents space from the post. And since June 16, the partnership has provided and delivered 750 meals a day to local residents who have lost power or, even worse, their homes. The meals also are provided to first responders and others assisting with flood relief efforts.
“My goal as commander has always been to give back to the community the best we can,” Post 1 Commander and Past Department of West Virginia Commander John Powell said. “This mission was thrust upon us, and it just kind of falls in with that. Nobody questions it. One of the Legion’s mottos is ‘still serving.’ So we still continue to serve and put the community first. What we’re doing falls right in line with how we live our lives.”
The post has partnered with Chef N’ Company, which is owned by Chef Adam Luiso. Luiso’s business is based out of Post 1 and provides catering, private dining and cooking classes.
“The chef is a very talented chef, and he stepped up and said, ‘Let’s feed the public,’” Powell said. “And we have multiple groups coming in to volunteer. We have the Legion group volunteering. We have post members who show up at noon, and they start the chef cook the meals. They’ll do vegetable prep. The chef is smoking the proteins.
“And then at 4 p.m. we have another army of people show up, and they’ll put 750 Styrofoam boxes together with food. And about 4:30. 5 p.m., another army shows up and out the door they go with all those meals. It’s unbelievable to watch … all the people to come together to work on this.”
Effort has resulted in some of the post members who haven’t been active in the past showing up to volunteer, while other members of the community have asked about joining the post’s Legion Family.
And those in the impacted community have really supported the effort. A local company donated 15 cases of Gatorade, while another chipped in 70 cases of bananas. A local beer distributor donated a beer wagon with a cooler to store food.
Powell said another donor gave the post $65,000 to use to assist those impacted by the flooding. And food is being donated and delivered from as far away as North Carolina.
“The community is really rallying around us,” Powell said. “It’s really mind-bending to sit there and watch. It really is. But it all works. In the end, everybody’s there to complete a mission.
“And as long as we have food to deliver, we’ll keep doing it – as long as there’s a mission and as long as we have the supplies.”
- Community