The day after Hurricane Laura ripped through Louisiana, Rikesh Patel was already working to help feed those impacted by the powerful storm in his community. He owns several McDonald’s restaurants in the area and called the corporate office to request a McRig. Within 24-hours, the self-sustaining mobile kitchen on wheels was in Lake Charles to provide hot meals to hungry families.
The hurricane left thousands without running water or electricity, so Patel wanted to feed as many people in need as he could. For the next week, he worked with his employees to provide free brown bag meals with cheeseburgers, fries and bottled water and he says they served more than 10-thousand of them.
"It was just really neat to see the whole family aspect, of how we've always said we're like a family and it just really came to life during such a tragedy," Patel explains.