Auburn Restaurant Raises Thousands Of Dollars For Harvey Victims
The water may be receding in Houston, but the cost of clean-up continues to rise. Hurricane Harvey is estimates to cost well into the billions.
The owners of Capre Vino, a restaurant in Auburn, have a tradition of giving to causes. But when Hurricane Harvey hit, it was personal.
"This one was pretty close to me because my girlfriend's daughter is attending school in Houston," said Drew Moffet, a co-owner of the restaurant.
The daughter was in 12 feet of water, as were millions of others whose lives were impacted by the damage of Hurricane Harvey. So along came the idea for a Texas-style barbeque fundraiser.
"A lot of what you think of with Texas is barbeque, so we have, of course, beef brisket, a hot link sausage. And thank you to Del Monte Meat Company of Sacramento. They helped us out with meat on that," explained Eric Alexander, the restaurant's executive chef.
In fact a lot of the ingredients were donated by local vendors.
The restaurant started taking orders on Tuesday for their special boxed meals. As word got out of the fundraiser, bigger orders started to come in.
"We got a lot of 2s and 4s, and then went to 6, 8, 10s," said Moffet, talking about the number of orders they received. The pre-order meals all sold-out by Thursday for meals that were good for pick up on Sunday afternoon.
The most important customers of the day, may have been the McDevitt family. They live in Houston but are in town on planned trip to visit family. They say a restaurant in Northern California helping those suffering in Eastern Texas has been the highlight of their visit.
"It feels wonderful! It's unbelievable that as far away as you are, that people are really willing to do this," said Mrs. McDevitt, who did not give her first name.
The restaurant raised several thousand dollars. The proceeds will go to the Greater Houston Community Foundation.