Tens of thousands of residents in and around Asheville, North Carolina, remain without running water more than a week after Hurricane Helene devastated the region.
A mobile relief diner operated by Denny's is scheduled to be in place through Tuesday with volunteers from all over the country serving meals. The 60-foot trailer carries a full-service kitchen.
"The Denny's Smoke relief diner is for disaster relief," said Paul Spence program director of Denny's Relief Diner. "And our whole idea is we try to bring a little bit of hope to people that have been hit by devastation. So we come out, we feed them a hot meal, comfort food, pancakes and sausage. And we talk to them a little bit, show that we care and the whole idea is to make them feel like there's better days ahead."
RELATED STORY | FEMA addresses rumors hurricane survivors receive less assistance than migrants
The Denny's Mobile Relief Diner has served over 75,000 meals since 2017.
Residents are getting a bit of relief from a four-legged friend as Candice Matelaski-Brady brought her dog to comfort residents.
"Today, I'm making her everybody's service dog because we're all under a lot of stress and there are kids waiting for long line for hot breakfast and that's tough on them," said Matelaski-Brady. "So I brought the dog out to provide a little bit of a distraction and a little bit of a reminder that we're all together in it as a community."
RELATED STORY | Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood celebrate Jimmy Carter's birthday at Habitat for Humanity site
