(NewsNation) — The West End Bakery has taken it upon itself to help fellow residents of Asheville in need as the western North Carolina city attempts to recover from Hurricane Helene.
Owned by Stephanie Hand and Donnie Hutchins, The West End Bakery is feeding hundreds of people with leftover food and delivering meals and bread to those in need.
The pair joined “NewsNation Now” on Tuesday to discuss how and why they are helping their neighbors.
“It’s really evident to us that we won’t have a business if there isn’t a community around us that is housed and economically secure,” Hand said. “So, immediate needs need to be met first before we even begin thinking about our business, and people are still without places without roofs over their heads.”
Initially, Hand and Hutchins were just making meals for hundreds in the community until realizing there was a great need for bread.
“We didn’t have power, we didn’t have running water, but we were able to use candlelight gas ovens to produce quickly,” Hand said.
“We were a full wholesale, retail bakery, and we pivoted from preparing meals to just focusing our energy on making bread to go to all of the pickup sites.”
Despite what many in Asheville are facing, Hand said, “Community support has been great. You’ve really seen people come together and and love one another like I’ve never seen before.”
