Longmont, Colorado (Flooding) / 11,150 Meals over 6 Days
Around September 11th, clouds and heavy rain had started to roll in along Colorado Front Range, a 130 mile long area along the eastern slope of the Rockies stretching from Fort Collins south past Denver & Colorado Springs.
In a three day period, 9-1/2 inches of rain fell on Boulder, a city that usually receives just 1-1/2 inches for the entire month of September. The resulting runoff, caused raging floods that affected a 4,500 square-mile area, an area bigger than the state of Connecticut.
Thousands of people have been left homeless and at least 10 dead. After the flood waters had receeded a bit and officials gave the go ahead for relief workers to enter the area. Operation BBQ Relief volunteers from the surrounding area established a command center in the town of Longmont CO.
OBR volunteer Scott Nix, of Rubbin’ Buttz BBQ was one of the first on the scene along with members of the Rocky Mountain BBQ Association. Once the smokers were setup and food started cooking, OBR volunteers were able to put out about 1,850 hot meals to people who had not had a hot meal in several days. On Sunday the group provided approximately 2,100 meals for a group of people that had just come down from the mountainous areas. At the conclusion of the six day deployment, OBR volunteers cooked 11,150 hot meals and left additional food behind for local groups to cook throughout the week.
Sponsors:
Rubbin’ Buttz BBQ, Cargill, CitiImpact Missions, Huwa Reserve Natural Beef, Emerald Bakeries, Fruita Wood Chunks, Ruff’s BBQ Shoppe, ACE Hardware of Highlands Ranch, Ole Hickory Pits, Famous Dave’s BBQ of Ft. Collins, Breckenridge Brewery, Golden Toad
OBR Participants:
Steve Nix, Steven Marrs, Todd Jilbet, Ken King, Dave Stout, Beth Lenz, Mark Lenz, Laura Jay, Michael Ulrich, Nick Walmer, Craig Darnell, Bill Maes, Larry Pitzer, Mark Shook, Mark Strachan, Chuck Marting, Jay Wolf, Keith Segura, Mike Bratton, Jason Ganahl, LifeBridge Church volunteers
BBQ Teams involved included:
Rubbin’ Buttz BBQ, The Denver Cajun BBQ Krewe, Golden Toad, Peace Pit BBQ, Pig Floyd, Stars & Stripes BBQ, Rib-It, Patriots BBQ, Bossman BBQ, GQue, Lizzie Q, Wolfy and the Hog Heaters, Pig Love BBQ
