Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in New Haven held a fundraiser Wednesday night for hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina, providing hope for the people there in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
There were a lot of smoked meats and drinks to be had at Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in New Haven. While this may seem like just another party at the restaurant, it was much more than that.
“We’ve seen our own colleagues, our friends, our Bear’s family, being impacted by this and we just felt very powerless. We wanted to help,” Marine Baedor, marketing director for Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ, said.
Hope 4 Asheville came together in a week. Its goal is to help the relief efforts in the North Carolina city after Hurricane Helene. Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ has two locations there and says the community support has been overwhelming.
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“Everybody wants to help. Everybody wants to donate, to come to the fundraiser. If they cannot come, people have been very generous to offer and donate as well,” Baedor said.
About $25,000 was raised, going to World Central Kitchen and Linked4Life to support mental health initiatives for hospitality workers.
The Asheville restaurant is working with World Central Kitchen to provide free hot meals to anyone impacted there. Restaurant co-owner Jamie McDonald called in from Asheville and said it’s made a difference for people living there.
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“Without this, they would have had no hope and we’ve helped a lot of people over the last nine days, and this will continue on for many weeks,” he said.
It’s something people said was a no-brainer to support.
“Anyone can connect with the humanity of these people and the experience that they’ve gone through,” Tori Whaley, of Hamden, said.
“If we were presented with these problems, we would help. When you’re under pressure like that, when something’s right in front of you, most people naturally want to help,” Rachel Nadolny-Sipes, of Berlin, said.
Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ said that coordination with World Central Kitchen has allowed them to serve 34,000 meals a day.
