McDonald’s Businessman Gives Away 10,000 Free Meals From Portable Truck After City Got Hit By Hurricane
The day after Hurricane Laura rolled through Louisiana and Texas, USA, Rikesh Patel, the owner of several McDonald’s in Louisiana, made a call to help out people that were affected by the deadly natural disaster.
Just within 24 hours, a restaurant on wheels arrived in Lake Charles to help feed families that are in need of a hot meal.
In the last 4 days we have provided over 10,000 free @McDonalds meals to our community. Ray Kroc believed we must give back to our communities that we do business in. Thank you to our amazing crew and managers for making this belief come alive. #HurricaneLaura #lakecharlesstrong pic.twitter.com/xj3mX9aecV
— Rikesh Patel (@RikeshAPatel) September 3, 2020
Laura, the strongest hurricane to strike the entire state of Louisiana since 1856, took out basic necessities, damaged houses, and businesses.
It also knocked down power lines and caused extreme flooding in some areas.
6 people were killed by the deadly hurricane, said the authorities in Louisiana.
Patel said that 90 percent of residents lived without electricity and running water.
Talking about the destruction that the hurricane had left, he said that pictures do not do justice because the situation in Louisiana is much worse than what people saw on social media.
The team is ready for another day. No better way of spending a few days of vacation helping you out @RikeshAPatel – thanks for hosting me. https://t.co/MJh4qFpyy0 pic.twitter.com/IEcuJH7itg
— Mike Oldham (@_mikeoldham) September 4, 2020
Despite all the chaos, Patel was on a mission.
He called the corporate office of McDonald’s 1 day after Laura made landfall with hopes of receiving a self-sustained mobile kitchen, which is known as the McRig.
A day after that, the kitchen on wheels arrived from Kentucky.
From there, Patel rallied whatever employees as he could to staff the truck and serve food to as many people as they can.
10 days after the initiative, Patel served over 10,000 free brown bags of McDonald’s cheeseburgers, fries, and bottled water.
Patel owns and operates 25 McDonald’s restaurants in Louisiana. Out of the 25, 8 of them are in Lake Charles and surrounding areas.
Employees that worked to help got something too.
Patel offered to give employees a half pay and housing for people that got their houses damaged during the hurricane landfall.