Huntsville’s Carrabba’s restaurant kept public safety workers fed in tornado’s aftermath

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – After the tornadoes roared trough on April 27, there was power outage, people couldn’t work, and most of them had nothing to eat, at that point it was all hands on deck for local public safety workers, and the big concern was, how to feed them all?

The Police Chief Mark Hudson said:

“They were working hard to figure that out, then the good Lord sent along Chris Tucker.”

Manager of Carrabba’s Italian Grill at Parkway Place Mall, Tucker, offered to cook up the food in the restaurant for police, firefighters, paramedics, sheriff’s deputies, public works crew and anyone else involved with recovery efforts.

Carrabba’s dished up around 8.000 free meals in the mall’s parking deck, between April 28 and May 3, when power was restored to most of Madison County.

The restaurant’s employees cooked from mid-morning until 11pm, daily, and then boxed up the leftovers, so cops on third shift wouldn’t go hungry.

“It’s part of what got us through the tornado,” Hudson said. “It just filled a void we needed at the time we needed it most.”

City Administrator Rex Reynolds said that “For them to intensify and help public safety was massive”.

Hudson gave Tucker a public thank-you, as well as the police department’s certificate of appreciation, at a recent Huntsville City Council meeting.

“You just can’t beat people who step up like that,” he said.

Nykael Stewart, first assistant at the restaurant, said they believe in “taking care of our friends and family.”

“We had workers that were sitting home with nothing to do” because of the power outage, Stewart said Friday. “We just felt like we could give them something to do and take care of the community also.”

With information of Alabama Local News.