Local bakery steps up in wake of Hurricane Matthew

Prepared, delivered free hot meals during power outage

Cora Barrs, foreground left, Nikki Cook, center, and Becky Griffin prepare spaghetti plates for distribution at Southern Cakes Bakery on Sunday. Barrs, who owns the bakery, had the idea of preparing the plates for locals who were still without power from Hurricane Matthew. The plates were free for pickup at the bakery and also were delivered to known areas of need throughout the county. - photo by EDDIE LEDBETTER/staff

W spaghetti — Cora Barrs, foreground left, Nikki Cook, center, and Becky Griffin prepare spaghetti plates for distribution at Southern Cakes Bakery on Sunday. Barrs, who owns the bakery, had the idea of preparing the plates for locals who were still without power from Hurricane Matthew. The plates were free for pickup at the bakery and also were delivered to known areas of need throughout the county. - photo by EDDIE LEDBETTER/staff

Sunday was a day for property cleanup or relaxation for many in the Bulloch area as the county began to exhale from the effects of Hurricane Matthew.

But not for Cora Barrs, owner of Southern Cakes Bakery on Mill Creek Road.

For Barrs and her family and friends, Sunday was a day of giving as she used her bakery to feed the many residents in the area still without power nearly two days after the storm roared through.

"I looked on Facebook (Sunday) morning, and there were people saying they were hungry and didn't have food and electricity and running water," Barrs said Sunday. "It just kind of struck me, and I said, 'OK, we can make spaghetti and give it out to whoever we can give it to.' "

And she did, along with a crew of support workers. Early Sunday afternoon, the group began cooking noodles and sauce and preparing plates for anyone who needed a meal - for free.

Throughout the day, people who were hungry and in need of a good, hot meal filtered through the bakery, some eating at tables, while others took their plates to go, always with a "thank you."

But Barrs' charity didn't stop there. As the steaming plates began to accumulate, volunteers began loading the meals into their vehicles and delivering them to any known area of need.

One of those places was the Summit Apartments, where there was still no power as of late Sunday afternoon. Without electricity, the elevators were disabled, and many of the residents, some handicapped, couldn't manage the stairwell in the multilevel building, confining them to the floors they were on.

Barrs and her helpers responded, delivering nearly 90 dinners to the apartments, offering each resident a warm meal at no cost to them.

At least one assisted living facility, The Gardens at Southern Manor on Gentilly Drive, was also without power, so a volunteer delivered plates there, too.

"Thank you so much for feeding our residents," said Reagan Daly, executive director of the facility. "The residents loved the spaghetti, and it was wonderful to have some delicious, home-cooked meals. They were thrilled."

Barrs said a total of 400 plates were prepared and shared or delivered.

"It's just a good deed," she said of the day's work. "People need it. It's not all about business; it's about helping somebody."

While the owner and her husband, Steven, footed the majority of the bill for the pasta, sauce and bread, Barrs said many helped with donations throughout the day, including Food World on Highway 80 and Bulloch Janitorial, who supplied disposable plates, eating utensils and gloves.

But she and her family and friends were the ones who spent hours preparing the plates, assembly-line style, in the kitchen of the bakery throughout the afternoon.

Ironically, two of Barrs' helpers, Becky and Mike Griffin, were in Bulloch County as a result of Hurricane Matthew. They make their home on Wilmington Island and were staying with the Barrs family until they could return to their residence. Tim Cook, president of the Portal Heritage Society, and his wife, Nikki, also helped prepare the meals, and Curtis and Jeanie Gay were among the volunteers who helped with ingredients and delivery.

Rhonda Jernigan, Sheila Fowler and Donna Lanier were among others that spent their Sunday afternoon at the bakery, providing meals for many people they'd never even met.

"If you can do the right thing, if you can be a good person, that's what we need to do in this world. It's just what I was raised to do," Barrs said.