Deployed with Operation Barbecue Relief

[Chris Allingham]

Good on you Jon, you’re doing great work!

My sister and her husband are in NC now with a Tennessee church group and Samaritan’s Purse mudding out homes. Their names are Larisa and Ken Pistorio. Unlikely you will run into them, but stranger things have happened!

Your OBR experience mirrors mine from 2017 when the Tubbs Fire ravaged my childhood hometown of Santa Rosa CA and my wife and I spent a day working there. I believe it was the first OBR deployment on the West Coast and before they had their semi tractor trailers and big mobile infrastructure. A lot of local restaurateurs turned out including Guy Fieri’s crew…they cooked for days.

What’s really crazy is how they’ve ramped up this operation over the years. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but it seems like today they serve more meals in one day than they used to serve in an entire week.

Thread 'My Day With Operation BBQ Relief, Santa Rosa CA, October 16 2017'

Oct 21, 2017

I've always thought that Operation BBQ Relief was a good organization doing good work in the Midwest and the South and the East Coast, and I've given them a few dollars in the past. But I wondered if there was a big disaster on the West Coast...would they come help here, where I live?

That question was answered with a resounding "Yes!" earlier this month when the devastating wildfires broke out all over Northern California.

On the evening of October 8, I stayed up all night watching the local television news coverage as my childhood hometown of Santa Rosa, CA burned. Local...

• Chris Allingham
• Replies: 13
• Forum: Just Conversation

 

[Richard S]

I've seen a lot of photos from those areas and it is so sad. It is great that you can give people some positivity and food that makes them forget for just a few minutes the conditions they are living in. Great work!

 

[Brett-EDH]

It is great that you can give people some positivity and food that makes them forget for just a few minutes the conditions they are living in. Great work!

very true words. a few hours of forgetting the tragedy can work miracles on the mind.

 

[Jon Tofte]

Awesome, are they going to trash most of the mobile homes that were flooded or will they repair them?

It looks like they are taking them down to bare studs and floor joists. After we treat them with Shockwave, they are ready for new floors and interior and, if needed, exterior walls.

Samaritan’s Purse doesn’t do construction, only demo/trash removal. However, there was one mobile home having exterior walls being done today by a contractor while we were doing demo on others. I think most will be repaired as none were knocked down and damage was all from water intrusion.