(NEW ORLEANS) — A flash flood watch has been issued for New Orleans until late Monday night as Louisiana continues its path toward recovery following Hurricane Ida’s disastrous touchdown.
Some regions of southern Louisiana could see two to four inches of heavy rain, threatening neighborhoods still picking up the pieces from one of the strongest hurricanes on record to hit the state.
Ida killed at least 11 people in Louisiana and initially left almost a million without power as it dumped more than 13 inches of rain in some communities. According to local utility company Entergy, Ida damaged or destroyed more than 14,000 poles, 2,223 transformers and 155 transmission structures.
Now, half a million customers remain without electricity more than a week later, according to PowerOutage.us.
The region is also experiencing hot and humid conditions, with temperatures reaching 90. The humidity will make it feel more like 95 to 100 degrees, forcing a heat advisory for the city as residents lack the power to run their air conditioners.
Several regions are also without water and some have been placed under boil-water advisories, while other homes are suffering from structural damages. Power lines and trees across southern Louisiana were uprooted by the hurricane’s 172 mph winds.
NOLAReady: Flash flood watch in effect in NOLA until 9pm today. Storm-related debris could block drains. Stay weather aware. Neutral ground parking allowed.
Though the flash flood could hinder recovery efforts, the storm brewing in the southern Gulf is not predicted to become a tropical cyclone as it winds through the Gulf of Mexico. Still, officials are telling residents to stay alert.
The National Weather Service warns residents to move to higher ground, be cautious at night when it is harder to recognize flood dangers, and never drive their car into floodwaters.
Heavy rainfall of 1 to 2 inches per hour in isolated spots will be a concern this afternoon into this evening. Soils are saturated, so any rain will quickly run off. Debris could also block drains, and this could result in street flooding issues. #lawx#mswxhttps://t.co/1iyLMLOJTt
President Joe Biden visited Ida-damaged regions on Friday, linking Ida’s destruction to climate change and urging rebuilding efforts to take into account the growing impact of environmental disasters.
“Things are changing so drastically in terms of the environment,” the president said. “We’ve already crossed certain thresholds. We can’t build back a road, a highway, a bridge or anything to what it was before. I mean, you got to build back to what it is now, what’s needed now.”
The Wire and Lovecraft Country actor Michael K. Williams was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment Monday, ABC News has confirmed. He was 54.
“It is with deep sorrow that the family announces the passing of Emmy-nominated actor Michael Kenneth Williams,” his rep says in a statement. “They ask for your privacy while grieving this unsurmountable loss.”
WABC-TV reports that drug paraphernalia was found at the scene. Police say the investigation is ongoing and the medical examiner will determine the cause of death.
Williams starred as Omar Little in The Wire and as Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire. He was most recently nominated for a 2021 Emmy for his role as Montrose Freeman in HBO’s Lovecraft Country.
(CHICAGO) — At least eight children were shot in Chicago over Labor Day weekend, including a 4-year-old boy who was killed when bullets fired outside his home flew through a window and hit him in the head while he was getting a haircut, police said on Monday.
A frustrated Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference that the children being shot in Chicago are getting caught in the crossfire of criminals and their intended targets, both of whom appear not to care if children are in the way.
“I’m not trying to vilify the victim, but these innocent young children should not be the byproduct of your criminal behavior,” Brown said. “This is directly to the offenders who are being targeted: You know the life you lead, you know that you’re being targeted, or that you’ve done something to cause this retribution from some rival gang or some rival person. Why are you continuing to be around young people, our children?”
Seldom is it the case that children are directly targeted, Brown said, adding that “it’s always some other offender, gang member, criminal network, beef” in which adults are targeted and young people nearby “are shot as innocent bystanders.”
Mychal Moultry was the youngest child shot over the holiday weekend and police were still searching for his killer on Monday. A $9,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for the child’s death.
Chicago police said the 4-year-old was in his home in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the city’s South Side when shooting erupted outside the residence around 9 p.m. on Friday.
“This victim was inside his residence in the front area getting his hair cut when two bullets came through the front window and struck our victim in the head,” said Deputy Chief of Detectives Rahman Muhammad.
The child was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Muhammad pleaded for the public’s help in solving the homicide.
Shootings over the weekend in Chicago added to a grim toll of at least 280 minors who have been shot this year in the city, including now 35 who have died, according to data analyzed by ABC station WLS in Chicago.
At least seven other victims, ranging in age from 12 to 18, were shot in Chicago over the weekend.
Another 49 adults were shot in the city, four fatally, between 8 p.m. on Friday and 8 a.m. on Monday, including a Chicago Transit Authority bus driver who was shot and wounded on the job during an attack, according to a review by ABC News of police incident reports.
A 13-year-old boy was shot while inside his home on Saturday, Muhammad said. The shooting happened just before 8 p.m. on the South Side and police said no suspects have yet been identified.
The child was shot in the head and remains in serious condition at Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.
“He was inside of the basement area of his home with friends and someone shot into that basement window,” Muhammad said.
In another shooting on Saturday, a 14-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister were both wounded at a community back-to-school event where they were doing volunteer work at the behest of their parents, according to police. The shooting unfolded abound 3:23 p.m. when two suspects opened fire from a car driving by the event, which was being held at a gas station in the Garfield Park neighborhood on the city’s West Side and included a bouncy house and go-karts for children.
“There were multiple shots that were fired into that crowd causing the injuries of our victims,” Muhammad said.
Police said the girl suffered a graze wound to her hip and her brother was shot in the ankle. They were taken to Rush University Medical Center, where they were treated and released. A 25-year-old man was also shot four times, including twice in the chest, in the same incident and was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
It remained unclear on Monday if the wounded man was the intended target.
Lamar Peterson, the father of the two children shot, told WLS he took his son and daughter to the event to “give back to the community” by volunteering to help children who are less fortunate than them.
“I don’t know what’s in these people’s heart that would make them want to shoot at a bouncy house and go-karts and cotton candy,” Peterson said.
In yet another shooting, a 14-year-old boy walking with his father to a car was hit by gunfire in the elbow around 10:30 a.m. on the city’s West Side, according to police. No suspects have been identified in the shooting.
Another 14-year-old boy was shot on Sunday in the Little Village neighborhood in the southeast part of the city. The boy was standing outside about 3 a.m. when shots rang out from a white car and he was hit in the thigh and buttocks, police said. The boy was treated at Mt. Sinai Hospital, and police are still working to identify suspects in the shooting.
And two teenagers, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old, were both shot around 2 a.m. on Sunday while they were in a car in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side traveling home from a party, police said. The 17-year-old was shot in the back while the other victim was hit in the leg, police said.
They were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center and were both in stable condition, police said. No arrests have been made.
Chief of Patrol Brian McDermott of the Chicago Police Department said the weekend shootings came despite officers being deployed to neighborhoods where there has recently been an uptick in shootings.
Citywide a total of 2,344 people have been shot in the first eight months of this year in Chicago, a 9% increase from the same period in 2020, according to police department crime statistics. Police have investigated 524 murders this year, an increase of 3% over last year.
Brown asked residents of Chicago to work with police if they have information about any of the shootings.
“People in the community know who the offenders are and the circumstances behind who’s targeted, and we need people in the community to come forward,” Brown said. “This is beyond trusting the police. This is about the safety of our babies.”
(COLO.) — An investigation is underway after a 6-year-old girl was fatally injured on a ride at an amusement park in Colorado, officials said.
The incident occurred shortly before 8 p.m. local time Sunday at the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, located atop Iron Mountain in Glenwood Springs, about 60 miles west of Vail.
The child was fatally injured while riding on the Haunted Mine Drop ride — which plunges riders 110 feet down a pitch-black tunnel in seconds — the Garfield County Coroner’s Office said.
Employees of the amusement park administered first aid until paramedics arrived and determined the child was dead, the coroner’s office said in a statement.
The name of the child, who was visiting with her family from Colorado Springs, has not been released pending notification of additional family members.
An autopsy is scheduled for this week, said the coroner’s office, which is investigating the death along with the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
In the wake of the fatality, the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park was scheduled to be closed Monday and Tuesday.
“Out of respect and concern for all parties involved, we will not have further comment until all details have been confirmed,” the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park said in a statement on its Facebook page Saturday. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved.”
An incident has occurred on the Haunted Mine Drop ride that resulted in a fatality. An investigation is in progress. Out of respect for all involved, we have no further comment until details have been confirmed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved.
A message on the amusement park’s website informs visitors of the fatality, park closures and contact information for refunds.
“An investigation is ongoing,” the message says. “We are deeply saddened and ask that you please keep the family of the deceased in your thoughts and prayers.”
The Haunted Mine Drop, seen here, opened in 2017 and is the “world’s first drop ride to go underground,” according to the amusement park. It was named one of USA Today’s Most Anticipated Theme Park Rides of 2017 and the Best New Theme Park Attraction by USA TODAY’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
Riders must be a minimum height of 46 inches tall — almost 4 feet — and sign a waiver to ride the Haunted Mine Drop, according to the amusement park’s website. There are no age restrictions noted.
The section on the ride has since been removed from the amusement park’s website.
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is billed as the only mountaintop theme park in America.
Other “thrill rides” at the park include the Cliffhanger Roller Coaster, the highest-elevation, full-sized roller coaster in America, at 7,160 feet above sea level, according to the amusement park; the Giant Canyon Swing, located at the edge of a cliff 1,300 feet above the Colorado River; and the Soaring Eagle Zip Ride, which pulls riders 600 feet up the mountain.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement Monday on the new near-total abortion ban in Texas saying violence against people seeking reproductive care or clinics offering care will not be tolerated.
“The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack,” the statement read. “We will not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services, physical obstruction or property damage in violation of the FACE Act.”
The Texas law bans physicians from providing abortions “if the physician detects a fetal heartbeat,” which would include embryonic cardiac activity that can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
This law is different from past abortion legislation in that it allows private citizens to bring civil suits against people who aid or abet an abortion. Although it was allowed to go into effect, the law is being legally challenged.
Many people who are pregnant don’t know they’re pregnant by week six. Most abortions performed in the U.S. occur after the six-week mark, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Department of Justice is still in the process of evaluating how it can challenge the law, Garland’s statement said, and the attorney general has pledged his support of reproductive health care.
“While the Justice Department urgently explores all options to challenge Texas SB8 in order to protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons, including access to an abortion, we will continue to protect those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services pursuant to our criminal and civil enforcement of the FACE Act,” the statement read.
The FACE Act, invoked by Garland in the statement, “prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services.”
It also bans property damage to facilities providing reproductive health services.
The department has been in touch with U.S. Attorney’s Offices and FBI field offices in Texas to ensure the enforcement of these protections, Garland said.
Cardi B and Offset have welcomed their second child together.
The “WAP” rapper shared a photo of herself cradling the new baby while her husband gazes down at him.
“9/4/21,” she captioned it, along with three emojis including a blue heart and a teddy bear.
“We are so overjoyed to finally meet our son,” the couple told People. “He is already loved so much by family and friends and we can’t wait to introduce him to his other siblings.”
Cardi B, 28, and Offset, 29, quietly married in 2017; their daughter, Kulture, was born the next year. Cardi B, born Belcalis Almánzar, announced her second pregnancy in June 2021.
Offset, born Kiari Cephus, also has three children from previous relationships.
(NEW YORK) — As many children and teens return to a new school year after Labor Day, educators and advocates are sounding the alarm on the challenges faced by Black and Hispanic students.
Those students were left behind during the pandemic, according to a Department of Education report released this summer, that showed the COVID-19 pandemic worsened disparities in access and opportunities for students of color in public schools.
“The pandemic has exacerbated preexisting inequities,” said Shavar Jeffries, president of advocacy group Education Reform Now. “Our school districts need to implement evidence-based interventions to address any learning loss that our students experience.”
The pandemic turned the world upside down and students, educators and administrators had to adapt to a changing world. Some students began virtual schooling, which highlighted gaps in internet and technology access.
According to the 2020 Census data, about 1 in 10 Black and Latinx homes lacked consistent computer access, compared to only 6.7% of white households — meaning children had a harder time accessing online classroom materials, homework or virtual classes themselves.
The data also showed that Black households were twice as likely as white households to report inconsistent internet access, and Latinx households were one-and-a-half times more likely than white households.
For others, schooling wasn’t the only hurdle amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For some, the virus hit close to home.
Many students were faced with sick or dying family members, friends and neighbors. Hispanics are about two times more likely to catch COVID-19, according to the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Black children made up 20% of those who lost a parent to COVID-19 prior to February 2021, despite only making up 14% of all children in the U.S, according to JAMA Pediatrics.
Black and Latinx adults were at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, and were more likely to be hospitalized or die from the virus, according to the CDC. Adding to these horrific outcomes, social isolation forced many to face new mental health struggles.
“This has been such a disruptive event that has touched a lot of families personally, and children, they take all of this in,” said Amalia Chamorro, the director of the Latino civil rights organization UnidosUS’s Education Policy Project.
“It’s going to be important for school systems to provide wraparound supports to not only help students get back on track with unfinished learning but also to provide assistance and support along the way,” Chamorro added.
Education advocates are hoping teachers and school administrators turn these statistics into learning opportunities for supporting students of color. She said accelerating students forward, instead of focusing on remediation, can help students who’ve fallen behind during the pandemic.
“You start with the current grades competency … then you could pinpoint where students are struggling and provide that support,” Chamorro said.
Culturally competent outreach services, tutoring and counseling can help turn the tide on disparities in education, she added. Chamorro also said that offering Spanish-language resources to Latino and Hispanic families so they can address needs at home and help students outside of the walls of school can make a big difference.
Chamorro also recommended reaching out to local community organizations that can help students find safe spaces to talk about mental health, schooling and mentorship from people who understand their cultural background.
However, Marc Morial, President and CEO of the civil rights group National Urban League, said that teachers are the experts in the classroom and that local and federal governments should be listening to them about what their students need to succeed.
“People have to understand the interdependency of the issue, and the necessity of ensuring that we close these resource gaps in education,” Morial said. “These young people have borne the most difficult brunt of the pandemic and have to be given extra support. And I think the smart thing to do is to say to teachers: ‘What do you need? We have resources, how should we deploy them?'”
(NEW YORK) — Two of tennis’ biggest stars are opening up about their emotional struggles in the wake of their losses at this year’s U.S. Open.
American tennis player Sloane Stephens gave a glimpse into the more than 2,000 abusive and hateful messages she said she received on social media following her third-round loss Friday to Angelique Kerber, ranked No. 17 in the world.
“I am human,” Stephens, 28, wrote on Instagram Saturday. “It’s so hard to read messages like these, but I’ll post a few so you guys can see what it’s like after a loss.”
Stephens, a former U.S. Open champion now ranked 66th on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour, shared screengrabs of the messages, some of which contained racist language, while others threatened physical and sexual violence.
“This type of hate is so exhausting and never-ending,” she wrote. “This isn’t talked about enough.”
Prior to the U.S. Open, Stephens told Good Morning America she has learned over her decade-long professional tennis career to not keep her mental health struggles to herself.
“I feel like a lot of people try to fight it alone and end up in a deeper rut than they were in before because they didn’t ask for help, or they didn’t tell anyone or they didn’t even say it out loud.” Stephens said. “I wouldn’t wish that. I’ve been in a place where it’s been dark. And it’s been deep, and it’s been sad. And I’m like, I need to get out of that place.”
On Friday, the same day Stephens lost her match, four-time Grand Slam singles champion Naomi Osaka was also knocked out of the U.S. Open early, losing in three sets to Leylah Fernandez, an unseeded 18-year-old from Canada.
After the loss, Osaka, 23, said she plans to take an indefinite break from tennis.
“Recently, like when I win, I don’t feel happy. I feel more like a relief. And then when I lose, I feel very sad,” Osaka said in press conference following her loss. “I don’t think that’s normal.”
Osaka then began to cry, but said she wanted to continue instead of ending the press conference.
“Basically I feel like I’m kind of at this point where I’m trying to figure out what I want to do, and I honestly don’t know when I’m going to play my next tennis match,” she said. “I think I’m going to take a break from playing for a while.”
The U.S. Open was the first Grand Slam tournament for Osaka this year after she bowed out of the French Open and Wimbledon due to what she said were mental health struggles.
Osaka withdrew from the French Open in June after being penalized for not doing post-match press conferences, which she said at the beginning of the tournament she would not do to preserve her mental health.
“I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health and this rings true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one,” Osaka said in a statement she shared on social media prior to the French Open.
A few weeks later, the tennis superstar also decided not to compete in Wimbledon.
Osaka returned to play in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in August in her home country but suffered a surprising loss in the third round.
Mental health experts have applauded Osaka for speaking up about her mental health, particularly as a woman and a woman of color.
“It does open up a conversation because it’s her using her voice and her platform to really call out systemic change, which she has done before,” Vaile Wright, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and American Psychological Association’s senior director of health care innovation, told GMA earlier this year. “I think she can show other girls and women who look like her how to empower them to stand up for themselves in ways that I think we haven’t always been able to see.”
The revelations from Osaka and Stephens about their mental health struggles as athletes in the spotlight come just a few weeks after American gymnastics star Simone Biles set aside her Olympic dreams to preserve her mental health.
Biles, 24, withdrew from several competitions at the Tokyo Olympics to “focus on her mental health,” USA Gymnastics said at the time.
“It’s been really stressful this Olympic Games, just as a whole,” Biles said after her withdrawals were announced. “It’s been a long week. It’s been a long Olympic process. It’s been a long year.”
ABC News contributor and USA Today columnist Christine Brennan said it’s “about time” when it comes to young athletes like Biles, Osaka and Stephen feeling empowered to talk openly about their mental health.
“What a monumental couple of months this has been … for all young athletes and for all of us who watch and cheer for young athletes, especially women, especially women of color,” Brennan said Monday on GMA. “This is such an important time to be discussing these issues.”
She called those speaking out “wonderful role models.”
“They’re still in their 20s. They’re still very young. For them to have the courage and the will to bring this up and to fight this and to talk about it, I think is so admirable,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — When COVID-19 reached the U.S. and government restrictions set in — closing indoor dining in much of the country — millions of restaurant workers found themselves without jobs. But now, as restaurants are reopening and people are once again going out to eat, owners are facing a different challenge: Their workers haven’t returned.
“The thing I remember most about those early months and weeks was the word ‘grief,'” said Sava Farah, owner of The Pulpo Group, which operates three restaurants in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “We had to lay off over 200 employees that we called family.”
At the time, no one knew how long restaurants would be forced to supplant their revenue with to-go orders and outdoor dining. For many, that was never going to cut it.
The National Restaurant Association estimates that in the first six months of the pandemic, nearly one in six restaurants — almost 100,000 businesses — shut down.
Depleted industry
Things began to look up in December 2020, as the federal government gave authorization to the first two COVID-19 vaccines. Shortly after, cases began declining, restrictions started to be lifted and restaurants were once again able to open their doors for indoor dining.
But even though the customers returned, many workers did not.
“If you look at who is working in restaurants in 2019 versus today, there’s about a million people who have disappeared,” said Micheline Maynard, Washington Post columnist and author of the soon-to-be-released book “Satisfaction Guaranteed: How Zingerman’s Built A Corner Deli Into a Global Food Community.”
The labor shortage is having wide-ranging effects on the industry. Many restaurants are having to cut hours, sometimes opening only for dinner service rather than all-day service. Some are even cutting entire days of service.
The reasons behind the labor shortage have become political.
Republicans argue that money offered as part of enhanced unemployment packages passed by Congress has taken away the incentive for people to return to work.
Those enhanced unemployment benefits won’t be around forever, though. The Biden administration is ending federal enhanced unemployment benefits on Labor Day, and prior to that, more than half of U.S. states had already ended unemployment boosts.
Democrats, meanwhile, argue that it’s not a matter of paying people too much to stay home, it’s a matter of paying people too little to work.
“You get a very low wage,” said Maynard about many restaurant jobs. “As much as $5 less than the minimum wage, and then your tips are supposed to bump you up to minimum or above.”
But even restaurants that offer higher wages are having issues finding workers.
An industry in need of a reset
Micheline Maynard and Sava Farah say the real problem lies within the industry itself.
The hospitality industry is already high-stress and physically taxing, and now the pandemic has brought new challenges, including an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19.
“Servers are tasked with reminding people that they have to have a mask on,” Maynard said.
Those who return to restaurant work are also having to work harder due to staffing shortages. But because they’re missing that extra set of hands, service becomes slower and tables don’t turn over as quickly.
“And the person who hears the complaints about that is the server,” said Maynard. “It’s hard on the staff, it’s hard on the owners, they’re stressed all the time [and] people are leaving.”
Sava Farah said well before the pandemic the stress of the restaurant industry was already leading to a “burnout culture” — one that often came along with drugs and alcohol use.
Now, with the added problem of the staffing shortages, she thinks it’s time for a reset in the industry — even if that means some doors have to close.
“I don’t think that’s a very bad thing. I know at least one of my restaurants is closed,” said Farah. “There’s just way too much competition in the marketplace currently and it causes all the restaurants around to have to lower their prices. And when you lower your prices, you lower your pay rates, you lower your profit margins, you lower the caliber of the restaurant.”
Micheline Maynard said it might also be time for legislators to get involved, especially if more federal money ends up going to restaurants.
“Basically Congress, and then the Obama and Bush administrations said there are going to be some strings attached,” Maynard said, recalling the auto bailouts during the Great Recession that ushered in industry reforms. “Restaurants need that same kind of examination.”
(HAMMOND, La.) — Hurricane Ida ravaged Louisiana and much of the East Coast, killing at least 59 people across eight states and leaving thousands without power — and often without a hot meal.
That’s where Operation BBQ Relief comes in. The nonprofit, which serves barbecue meals to those in need after national disasters, says it has deployed to 80 natural disasters since 2011 to feed families and first responders.
“I do this time and time again,” said Jeremy Bruce, Operation BBQ Relief’s Head of IT, who arrived in Louisiana this week. “You know, ‘From the frying pan into the fire,’ as they say, and literally because it’s hot, it’s hard. But when you see the impact that you make, it makes all those sacrifices worth it.”
The volunteer group arrived in Hammond, Louisiana, on Aug. 30 to serve hot meals to the community impacted by Ida.
“We’re trying to get meals out into the community as fast as possible. We got in on Monday afternoon. We rolled in fired up the generator and started putting sausage links on the smoker,” Stan Hays, CEO and co-founder of Operation BBQ Relief told Good Morning America.
Hurricane Ida was the fourth-fastest intensifying hurricane on record and left some areas with up to 15 inches of rain. Local Louisiana officials warned it could take weeks before the power is fully restored.
“Our community has been completely devastated,” Kaite McCaleb of Hammond, Louisiana, told ABC News. “We’ve lost homes. We’ve lost cars. My car flooded and a tree fell on my house.”
With power lines down, most stores and restaurants remain closed, making food resources difficult to come by. The free meals were a resource McCaleb said she was grateful to find.
“It makes us feel like we’re not alone and we’re cared for like, people care about Louisiana,” she said. “They gave us a warm meal when there was no other way we can get one, so we’re very thankful.”
So far the group says it has given out thousands of meals in Hammond.
“It’s a barbecue meal. I mean, it’s pulled pork, it’s a vegetable, it’s a roll. In the big scheme of things, that’s really not anything. But on that day, when you’re the lowest of low, and somebody just hands you a hot meal, it just totally changes your day and makes you kind of want to go on and continue,” volunteer David Keith said.
The devastation hits home for Keith and other staff and volunteers.
“Our house was basically underwater from (Hurricane) Sandy. We lost everything. Before Sandy I had never thought about volunteering,” he said.
After that experience, he knows “firsthand what that hot meal means.”
“It really makes you realize what’s important in life when you see people who lost everything and their whole day is brightened up by that one hot meal,” Keith said.
