Country Kitchen Café Serves Up Food for Tornado Victims

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- Everybody loves free food, and the Country Kitchen Café in Norman is serving it up to tornado victims.

Since Monday, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe-owned restaurant has been cooking hamburgers, hotdogs and fries for close to 1,000 people a day for free. The café delivers the food in the tornado-damaged area to teachers at Little Axe High School, to electrical service crews and to people at the tribe's resource center.

Café manager Sherry Ashmore has been putting in long hours, sometimes working without electricity, but she doesn't mind.

"I've lived in this community for 12 years. My daughter's been going to school here forever. I really care about my community," Ashmore said. "I want to make sure people get to eat.

An extra delivery went to an area near Tecumseh, where Wednesday night's storm left people, including the tribal secretary, without electricity and hot food.

"We just all pitch in together. We're all a community. We're all family, and we help each other," said Michelle Lopez, Tribal Secretary.

Country Kitchen said they plan to keep providing the free food as long as there's a need. However, they are in need of donations to help with the cost of food. You can donate to the ASTI Disaster Relief Fund, in care of Banc First, 1215 Gordon Cooper Drive, Tecumseh, Oklahoma.