WILMINGTON — The region’s food trucks have partnered with the chefs of World Central Kitchen to serve 150,000 meals — and counting — to first responders and residents of Wilmington and the surrounding area since Hurricane Florence made landfall last week.
Michelle “Mama” Rock from T’Geaux Boys has helped coordinate the efforts of local food trucks who didn’t evacuate before the storm to deliver chef-cooked meals to communities in need.
Here is where to find them Friday:
- A&M’s Red Food Truck: 11:30 – 2:00 p.m. (300 meals), 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. (300 meals); at the Auto Zone on Oleander Dr. close to the mall (3913 Oleander Dr.).
- T’Geaux Boys: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (500 meals); at Port City Welding (4716 Carolina Beach Rd.).
- Poor Piggy’s: 12:30 – until out of meals (1500 meals); in Southport at the McDonald’s parking lot (4992 Long Beach Rd).
- WilmyWoodie: 12:00 – until out of meals; in Surf City at the Salty Turtle Beer Company.
“Our local celebrity chefs (at World Central Kitchen) are in the kitchen banging out the same food that they would serve at their restaurants,” Rock said Thursday night.
She said that the initial focus to feed first responders — including local police and sheriff departments and the Air Force teams at Fort Fisher — has now shifted to communities and shelters across New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, and Onslow counties.
While World Central Kitchen operates from its central hub at Diamond Food Enterprises, they have relied on local food trucks to deliver to communities in the area that can’t afford groceries or restaurants and those who don’t have power.
Rock said that Chef José Andrés, who founded World Central Kitchen while serving food in Puerto Rico in response to Hurricane Maria last year, has gone out on food runs every day to meet these communities, and refuses to serve meals that don’t match the quality of those at his own restaurant.
“He wants everybody to have a decent meal. He doesn’t believe in peanut butter sandwiches, and he believes everybody should have something, whether they’re rich or they’re poor,” Rock said.
WilmyWoodie owner Kevin Langston was at the Sour Barn on Market Street Thursday serving 200 plates of hot hamburgers, mashed potatoes, and potato salad.
“Anybody that hasn’t had a hot meal, we’re just trying to help out. We’re just using the WilmyWoodie as a hub,” Langston said.
Mark Darrough can be reached at Mark@localvoicemedia.com
