PASCO COUNTY — An unlikely partnership between a sixth-grade student and a barbeque restaurant is bringing Thanksgiving dinner to hundreds of hurricane victims across Pasco County this week.
Robert’s Smokin’ BBQ knows all too well about the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Owner Robert Luke is thankful to be back behind the smoker where he belongs. It’s been a long couple of months following Hurricane Helene, and he’s not sure if he’ll ever reopen his Port Richey restaurant.
“The storm surge and the river, they met in the middle of our parking lot,” Luke said. “My mental health was challenged, everything about me was challenged, but then people see things in you that you don’t see.”
A sixth-grade girl named Calleigh Burke reminded Luke that the best of people often emerge from the worst of times.
“I thought that maybe we could try to give back to all those families who lost everything," Burke said. "I told Robert that maybe we could donate turkeys.”
Robert asked his own granddaughters what they thought and the answer was unanimous. So, he immediately turned his second restaurant, in Holiday, into a turkey drive central.
“How could you turn down the little girls," Luke said. "They are our future, and if they can see and identify with the unity of what it means to have family bonding, then why not."
Burke used resources at her Seven Springs Middle School to identify 500 families affected by the hurricanes who could use a turkey dinner this Thanksgiving.
“I’ve been writing down the phone numbers, calling the people confirming their schedules," she said. "If they couldn't come and pick up the turkeys, I let them know that we could come and deliver it."
Burke's dad Ryan, through his company Lantern Specialty Care, donated the $50,000 needed to purchase the birds.
“It’s actually really pretty special to see the community coming together and the payoff at the end is seeing the lives that you can impact,” Ryan said.
Jaime Fraunhoffer was one of those families thankful for a turkey dinner.
“I’m so grateful and appreciate that they would go out of their way to do this,” Fraunhoffer said. “I got an email from Seven Springs Middle School saying that if I needed any help to just give them a call. [Burke] also called us and gave the address and everything.”
Burke said it's better to give a helping hand than be a bystander when it comes to making a difference in people's lives.
“It’s very important because now I know that people need help and we can try to give back and help them out instead of just not noticing it,” she said.
The Burke and Luke families said they are so impressed and overwhelmed with all the efforts that made these turkey donations possible. They plan to do it again for the holidays next month.
The widow of a Pinellas Park firefighter turned to Susan Solves It after she was cut off from the savings her husband left behind for her.
