Restaurants, churches, club keeping volunteers well fed

By WILLIAM KINCAID and LESLIE GARTRELL
newsroom@dailystandard.com

CELINA - Bella's Italian Grille and the Celina Rotary Club were among various entities again offering food to fuel ongoing efforts to clear out rubble flung about tornado-devastated properties in northwestern Celina.

The two paired up to hand deliver pasta on Tuesday and hot dogs on Wednesday to anyone along Hellwarth Road, Fairground Road and into the Wheatland and Bruns subdivisions.

Julie Fleck, owner of Bella's and a Rotarian, led the charge, driving the restaurant's catering truck.

"Two of my staff people said, 'We're out here. People are starving. Bring us food,' " Fleck said. "So we decided, 'Let's do this. Let's partner with Rotary because we're a service organization.' And the Celina Rotary Club stepped up to the plate, and here we are feeding as many people as possible."

Close to a dozen Rotarians and some of their children came out to lend a hand.

"Every house. We did the same trek yesterday," Fleck said. "There are so many volunteers out here. How awesome is it on Hellwarth Road to see 50 kids yesterday, at least? Mostly the football team, other sports teams, and they were out there helping."

Rotarian Dee Uhlenhake and her two daughters, Bryce, 8, and Olivia, 11, and their friend Natalie Zizelman, 11, brought hot dogs, chips and water to homeowners, contractors and other volunteers.

Asked why she decided to help out, Bryce Uhlenhake said, "because we really want to help the people that are working so hard to help clean up other people's homes."

They went through 100 pounds of pasta and a couple cases of bread on Tuesday and more than 300 hot dogs on Wednesday, both days combined feeding and sustaining at least 600 people.

"Luckily at the Church of God, they have limitless amounts of water so we finally linked up with them and got waters, and we've been handing that out again today," Fleck said on Wednesday. "They gave us some chips to be able to hand out with the hot dogs."

Some people on Tuesday at first declined the offer, but the volunteers pushed it on them, knowing how important it was to keep up their strength.

"Yesterday was much more of a shock day," Fleck said. "The people that owned the houses were just in shock. There's no other way to put it."

Though still shattered from the loss of their homes, many on Wednesday were likely to flash a smile as they pondered their next moves, Fleck said.

"This is what I love about our community," Rotarian and Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Amy Ikerd commented on the outpouring of community support. "We come together and help each other out - help our neighbors, help our friends, help complete strangers who need it. This is what we do, and this is why we love our community."

St. John Lutheran Church, or "The Purple Door Church," in Celina has also stepped up to serve and distribute meals to hard-working homeowners, linemen and volunteers. Church organizers started serving and packaging meals on Tuesday and plan to continue through Friday.

The Rev. Dr. Jeffery Gramza said since the church already does community dinners each Wednesday, it wasn't a stretch to do a meal for four days.

"We're a church, and this is what we do," he said.

Having food delivered was important because people want to keep working, Gramza continued. That food is necessary fuel to keep up the good work.

The pastor said community members who are unable to volunteer have turned to something they can do - bake. The church has received dozens of sweet treats and desserts, including pies, cookies, fruit crumbles and brownies.

"Baking shows love," church receptionist Rachel Russell said. "Everyone needs food, and sweets don't hurt."

"To be able to bake cookies and deliver them to a place like this, where they know that (the desserts) are going to get into the hands of somebody who's just lost their home or is working for another person's home, that's significant," Gramza said.

The church also received 50-100 pounds of frozen beef on Wednesday from people who were unable to keep it due to lack of refrigeration, he added.

On Tuesday, the church sent out 107 boxed meals and had 64 diners come in to eat, Russell said, adding they had sent out 135 boxed meals before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and were likely to send out an additional 200 boxed meals or more due to the nice weather. The church cooked 70 pounds of taco meat that evening for their meal of tacos, chips, salsa, applesauce and more.

Food can bring people and communities together, Gramza said, noting that sharing a meal after a hard day's work or experiencing tragedy can be powerful.

The church has plenty of water, food and basic necessities at the moment, Gramza said, but people can still donate money to the church. The funds would be used to purchase gift cards for families affected by the storm or help cover medical expenses not covered by insurance.

Among others chipping in food were C-Town Wings, CJ's HighMarks, Dairy Cone, Celina Wine Store, The Fountain Restaurant, Heckler's Slaughter House, Arby's, Taco Bell, Shockers Bar and Grill, Chief Supermarket, IGA and Home Bakery, according to Pastor Tyler Watson of Celina First Church of God. He also mentioned Menards, Accutech, Taylor Communications, the New Bremen Teacher's Association and Dollar General as providing assistance.

Gramza said the aftermath of the tornado won't go away overnight.

"This isn't a sprint, it's a marathon," he said.

People affected by the tornado, volunteers and others should keep their self care in mind, he said. Taking time to rest and eat is important. Gramza also emphasized that those who need help should seek it. If people have specific needs, they shouldn't be afraid to ask. There's no shame in asking for help.

"This community, they love one another," he said. "They want to help."

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