JUNEAU, Wis. — A local chef and his team spent all of Friday preparing and serving meals for victims and those impacted by devastating tornadoes in Dodge County.
More Coverage: NWS confirms 4 tornadoes touched down in Dodge County Thursday
Chef Chanse Schomber knew he had to help when tornadoes struck communities including Mayville, Juneau, and other areas with storm damage especially since some victims were people he knew personally.
Schomber operates Chef Chanse Cuisine, a catering company in Juneau.
"I know families that lost their whole farms. It's devastating," Schomber said.
WATCH: Chefs, volunteers step up to feed people around Dodge County following tornadoes
The chef quickly mobilized his resources to provide meals for those in need on Friday morning. He estimates they dished out meals for around 500 people.
Schomber, his sous chef Jason Banyasz, and even some volunteers prepared wraps, fruits, pasta salad, and other comfort foods.
"They were hungry. It was a relief that they actually got food," Schomber said.
The community effort was made possible by Mayville company Metalcraft, which covered the costs of the meals. A quick phone call to Schomber on Friday morning got the ball rolling.
For Banyasz, the need was clear after experiencing his own challenges from the storm.
"These people probably need this. Like, just today, I was cleaning out my fridge because, you know, all the power went out and all that food went bad. So how many of those people don't have food to eat and all that," Banyasz said.
While others helped with cleanup efforts, Schomber found his own way to contribute to the recovery.
"I didn't have my chainsaw out there helping in that aspect, but they had a lot of help in that way. But me being who I am, I could feed people, and it made me feel good," Schomber said.
This effort represents just one of many ways community members are stepping up to help each other recover in Dodge County.
This story was reported by Mike Beiermeister and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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