Operation BBQ Relief, Inc. Mobilizes After Alabama Tornadoes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Alabama, Alabama, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) February 2, 2012 -- Operation BBQ Relief, Inc., a non-profit disaster relief organization, mobilized its volunteers to help feed storm victims and emergency response personnel in the wake of the rare January tornadoes in Jefferson and St. Clair Counties of Alabama last week. In these tornadoes, the largest being an EF2 tornado with wind speeds over 100 mph, there were two fatalities, over 120 people injured and more than 200 homes completely destroyed. Another 200+ homes saw extensive dames and countless homes suffered moderate to minor damage.

Volunteer barbecue teams and others, led by Operation BBQ Relief Southeast Region Coordinators Gary and Dionn Lanton (Dublin, Georgia) and Lynn Entrekin (Albertville, AL), prepared barbecue meals from the Clearview Baptist Church in Pinson, Alabama starting on Thursday, January 26 and continued through Sunday, January 29. In all, 5,700 hot, nourishing meals were delivered to shelters, families in impacted areas and to those coming to their location looking for a hot meal. There is never a charge for any meals served by Operation BBQ Relief, Inc. during the disaster operations. Cash, food and supplies were donated by many private individuals and various local and regional companies, including Sam’s Club (Birmingham, AL), Red Diamond Tea (Birmingham, AL), Wood Fruitticher Food Service Distribution (Birmingham, AL), Max Packaging (Attalla, AL), Academy Sports (Birmingham, AL), Royal Oak Charcoal (Roswell, GA), Bub-Ba-Q BBQ (Woodstock, GA), The National BBQ News (Douglas, GA), Evans Meat (Birmingham, AL), St. Joseph’s Anglican Church (Trussville, AL), Grace’s Kitchen (Birmingham, AL) and Grissom High School (Huntsville, AL).

Operation BBQ Relief, Inc. was founded in May, 2011 by Jeff Stith, Stan Hays and Will Cleaver after they planned and implemented a large relief effort in Joplin, Missouri. Professional competition barbecue teams from eight states responded to Joplin in the wake of the massive EF5 tornado that destroyed a large part of that community and killed over 140 people. The group served more than 120,000 meals in eleven days to displaced families and rescue and first response personnel. In addition to Joplin and Alabama, the organization has also responded to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania where they served over 5,000 meals in three days to displaced families during the catastrophic flooding of the Susquehanna River after Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee last fall. They are preparing to repeat these operations anywhere in the United States where natural disasters threaten the lives and safety of our citizens and where victims are in need of hot and nourishing meals.

More information can be found online at http://www.operationbbqrelief.org

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