St. Louis restaurants rally community support for Hurricane Harvey victims

In wake of the recent tragedy in Texas, St. Louis restaurateurs and customers alike have banded together to send aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey.

Demun Oyster Bar’s Tom Halaska, Byrd & Barrel’s Bob Brazell, Ices Plain & Fancy’s Max Crask and state Rep. Bruce Franks Jr. organized the Babies & Fur-Babies Hurricane Supply Drive.

Halaska said dozens of St. Louis-area restaurants and bars have already volunteered to serve as supply drop-off points, including Guerrilla Street Food, Nudo House and 4 Hands Brewing Co. The drive has also partnered with Project Downtown STL, RukaNade and the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis. (A full list of drop-off locations can be found online.)

“It’s impressive that through the restaurant and bar community in St. Louis, you send a couple messages and make some calls and get this response,” Halaska said. “We’ve had a bunch of community support.”

Halaska and others will drive supplies down to Houston at the end of next week, so donors are asked to drop off all donations by Sept. 10, and to please stick to the list of suggested items for donations. Organizers are requesting supplies like diapers, cat and dog food, kitty litter, feminine hygiene products and baby bottles, with a full list of needed supplies available online.  People can also purchase products directly off an Amazon wish list and send them to Demun Oyster Bar.

“We’re trying to keep it condensed to a small amount of items,” Halaska said. “One thing we don’t want is to show up down there, and they won’t know what to do with everything. And we need everything new, nothing used.”

Additional restaurants interested in becoming drop-off locations can contact the organizers via the Facebook page. Halaska encouraged the community to give generously. “Even if we fill up three semi trucks, we still won’t have enough,” he said. 

Rachel Wilson is an editorial intern at Sauce Magazine.