Louisville-area food trucks feed towns devastated by Kentucky tornadoes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- In times that are good and times that are bad, it's often food that brings people all together.

After tornadoes ripped through parts of Kentucky less than two weeks ago, many food trucks from the Louisville area answered the call to help.

"The first night that we arrived there, we arrived around 9 o'clock at night and we ran over some power lines and we thought, well, 'I hope they're not hot,'" said Ramiro Gandara, owner of Ramiro's Cantina.

Gandara said his food truck was one of the first that made it to Mayfield after the storms.

"It was a different world," he said. "Basically, the tornado went in, middle of town, and destroyed every building that was standing. You can't recognize what's what."

Gandara said employees from his restaurant volunteered to go to Mayfield and help feed people there. He said through the food truck, Ramiro's Cantina has served 1,700 meals in Mayfield so far.

"We had a bunch of, 'We're hungry. We have no money,'" he said. "And of course, I lost it."

Sam Bracken, who owns The Celtic Pig food truck, has also been serving meals in Mayfield.

"My whole life, whenever I see one of these floods or hurricanes or tornadoes, I've always wanted to go but I always felt like I'd be in the way down there, you know?" Bracken said. "But with the food truck, it was kind of a no-brainer."

He said he's been working with the Lee Initiative to know where and when to set up. He has plans to go back to Mayfield next week.

"You get down there, and these folks come up and they're so grateful," he said. "Their lives have been turned upside down, but at least we can serve them a hot meal and it feels a little normal for a while."

Dung Tran, owner of Fresh Out The Box, has a storefront inside Logan Street Market. He also has a food truck that he's been taking to Dawson Springs.

"We kind of grew to love the people there, so when we do requests and (the Lee Initiative) send us back, we always request for Dawson Springs, because we actually got to know them, got to talk to them," Tran said.

He said serving meals in an area with so much loss was emotional for both those in the community and for the volunteers who went with him to help.

"They saw what we could do if we united together," he said.

Being mobile also allowed these trucks to stop by several different spots once they got to areas where they were needed most.

"Friday, when it rained, we made meals and drove around town and gave to the volunteers that couldn't make it out to us so that they could have a nice, hot meal," Tran said.

All three of these food trucks, along with several others, have plans to return to help.

Gandara said he will likely continue to help for months and plans to expand outside of Mayfield to areas including Dawson Springs and Bremen.

"After you see the devastation, it's not going to fix itself in three months, four months," he said. "It's going to take years."

The Lee Initiative, helping organize several food truck efforts, has a link set up to donate to a western Kentucky disaster relief fund. For that link, click here.

On Wednesday, Gov. Andy Beshear announced a new tornado relief website for the state. It includes information on debris removal, how to replace lost paperwork, where to find hot meals and more. To access that new website, click here.

To donate to the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund, click here.