When devastating floods hit Kerr County, Texas, and surrounding areas on July Fourth, the loss of life and property left many in the region reeling and unsure how they would go on.
The team at OW Lee understood that all too well. Located just 20 minutes away from the flooded areas, the company has a number of employees who were impacted by the storm.
“A fair amount of our employees live in Kerr County’s affected areas,” said Leisa McCollister, vice president of marketing, OW Lee. “We are so thankful that everyone was safe, but we also have a couple employees who had damage to their property.”
McCollister said the team wanted to find a way to help the people affected by flooding, but they weren’t sure where to start. Enter Scott Buzbee of ABSCO Fireplace & Patio. Buzbee and his wife, Cathy — who co-own ABSCO with niece Joy Odom — have long volunteered with Operation BBQ Relief, an organization that deploys grill masters and other volunteers to cook meals in disaster-affected areas.
“We first heard from Scott that Operation BBQ Relief was deploying to Kerrville to help with the relief efforts,” McCollister said. “We reached out to see how we could help from a logistics standpoint first since we have a large facility about 20 minutes down the road from Kerrville.
“Scott also asked us to get the word out into the community to get volunteers first and foremost and then outreach to the community when the operation was up and running to let them know they were set up and ready to serve them. It was natural that we would also go volunteer, and I was grateful for the opportunity to help.”
McCollister and her mom — OW Lee CEO Terri Lee Rogers — along with other members of their team showed up at Operation BBQ Relief’s Texas deployment to serve meals to people affected by the floods.
“Seeing the devastation up close made it real in a way that news coverage never could,” McCollister said. “The gratitude from those who had lost so much was humbling.”
Operation BBQ Relief was founded by Kansas City pit master Stan Hays, who rounded up other competitive grillers to cook meals for displaced families and first responders after the devastating tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. That first deployment has grown to a thriving nonprofit that has served more than 11 million meals across the United States and abroad in the wake of natural disasters.
Buzbee first learned about Operation BBQ Relief at the HPBExpo more than a decade ago. He said he immediately connected with the organization’s mission to help, and he also felt it tied into the casual industry since many outdoor retailers also sell grills and cookers. ABSCO began collecting donations for Operation BBQ Relief, but Buzbee knew he wanted to do more to support their work.
That opportunity came in 2020 when Hurricane Sally hit Gulf Shores, Alabama, a few hours south of Birmingham, where ABSCO is located. Scott and Cathy spent a week volunteering with Operation BBQ Relief’s deployment in Orange Beach, Alabama.
“We were feeding 30,000 to 40,000 meals a day — we’d cook and send them out,” Scott said. “And once Cathy and I did that, we were hooked. Giving money is one thing, but when you actually go see the devastation, see the people who have lost everything, it really hit home with us.”
In the years since, Scott has volunteered for several more deployments, helping serve meals to people affected by wildfires in Tennessee, tornadoes in Mississippi and unprecedented floods in North Carolina last fall after Hurricane Helene. He said that while volunteering on the scene of such devastation can be exhausting both physically and emotionally, the feeling of helping people in need makes it worth the effort.
“It’s really exhausting, but it’s very rewarding,” he said. “You think you’re tired, and then you realize these people have lost everything. It puts it in perspective.”
McCollister said she felt that same sense of perspective and duty to help. And since volunteering with Operation BBQ Relief, the OW Lee team has volunteered to act as a secondary storage location for donations to area nonprofits as recovery continues in Texas.
“I feel like volunteering wasn’t really a choice; it felt like a responsibility,” she said. “People had lost homes, belongings and peace of mind. We didn’t want to stand by and watch our neighbors struggle. We wanted to be part of the solution and help our community start healing and rebuilding.”
Want to help support Operation BBQ Relief’s mission? Visit operationbbqrelief.com to donate and register to volunteer for future deployments.
