A Twin Cities chef is in Turkey, helping people in the earthquake-ravaged nation get better access to food.
Brian Ingram, the owner of Hope Breakfast Bar, and his wife left Minnesota to help the country, where more than 36,000 people have died after earthquakes a week ago. Ingram says that his first thought when he heard about the tragedy was how he could help.
"When we heard about the disaster our immediate thought was 'how do we get over here and how do we do it?' My wife and I started our non-profit, Give Hope, during the pandemic for food insecurities. There aren't many more places in the world right now that are having food insecurities as bad as they are."
Ingram says that they will be providing three meals a day to approximately 500 people who were affected by the earthquake. The process to do that in a country they don't call home hasn't been an easy process.
"From having a tentmaker make tens we can work out of to having to buy all the restaurant equipment so that we can cook for that many people in a mobile kitchen. And then today we were out buying the food, 50-pound bags of lentil beans, as many as we could fit in the van. Tomorrow we'll get on the road, it's about 700 miles away from here in Istanbul."
While feeding the whole area affected by the earthquake isn't an option for Ingram and his wife, he knows that they have a mission to handle.
"For us it's just go feed as many people as we can for as often as we can."
If you'd like to donate to Ingram's Give Hope cause, click here.