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TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — The menu now includes quail, but in the beginning there were only hamburgers and hot dogs.

Members of the Loyal Order of Moose, a family fraternal lodge, reached into their pockets, purchased the food, fired up some grills and went modestly about feeding a community in need.

The next thing they knew, a big rig was delivering a refrigerated trailer filled with frozen meat, a load so heavy that asphalt buckled in the parking lot.

“You see all the food?” former Moose Lodge governor J.C. Hunter said one day last week. “We’ve been blessed. Kind of like it’s mentioned in the Bible when Jesus broke the bread and fed so many people. Fish and the loaves. That’s what it’s been like here. Food just keeps appearing.”

The once-modest operation grew to feature an array of food not normally offered in disaster situations and a distribution area around the state.

The genesis was the April 27 tornado that roared through Tuscaloosa, including the hard-hit Alberta City neighborhood up the hill from the Moose Lodge.

“The day after the storm, (lodge governor) Jeff Sullivan called and said, ‘What would you think if we cook a few hamburgers and hot dogs for the people in the neighborhood?’” Hunter said.

“I said, ‘Well, we can’t contact all of the board officers.’ That’s what you’re supposed to do before you spend money. And I said, ‘Well, it’s easier to get forgiveness than it is permission.’”

So it was off to a store to pick up 300 hot dogs, 300 hamburger patties and buns.

“We bought that food, and since then, we haven’t bought a lick,” Hunter said. “Everything just mushroomed.”

Volunteers from beyond the Moose Lodge have joined the efforts. Patrick Banks, a Walker County native who now lives in Fairhope, rushed to Tuscaloosa, where he lived for 15 years.

Banks knows Hunter’s son and tailgates at various events with Moose Lodge members. Through business contacts, Facebook and local radio stations, the traveling truck salesman has spread the word about the lodge’s efforts.

“Hundreds, maybe thousands of people have come through here and dropped stuff off,” Banks said. “Everything we have needed, we have gotten.”

On May 3, he called a customer in Jackson, Miss., about a refrigerator truck.

“He called back in 45 minutes, and let’s just say he really came through,” Banks said. “I had a truck here with 40,000 pounds of meat. It collapsed our parking lot.”

The truck delivered more than 1,600 Boston butts, 15,000 pounds of chicken, 30 cases of heat-and-serve sausage biscuits, 150 pounds of 1-pound sausage rolls and pre-made sausage patties. “We were supplied for days,” Banks said.

Some of the frozen meat has been sent to shattered communities in other parts of Alabama.

‘Most rewarding’

Cole Rosenbaum was visiting her parents in Charlotte, N.C., when she heard about the devastation. The former University of Alabama student, who was laid off in January from a job in Birmingham, has helped oversee the preparation and serving of meals on lodge grounds and the distribution of meals into the community.

“It’s been the most rewarding, humbling experience that I’ll ever go through in my entire life,” she said. “I’m 21 years old, and I’ve never seen anything like this, and I probably never will see anything like this again in my life.”

For 11 days, while power was out, the lodge cooked and served food in the parking lot.

“It looked like a base camp,” Rosenbaum said.

On May 7, 1,000 meals featuring chicken quarters were served under tents, and another 750 to-go plates were taken into the neighborhood.

The next day, power was restored and the cooking moved to the kitchen. Menus were planned, and the entrees started going far beyond hot dogs and hamburgers. The operation was scheduled to end Sunday with remaining uncooked food taken to a local food bank.

“People get tired of corn dogs,” Banks said. “People get tired of hot dogs. People get tired of a cold hamburger. We’ve had lasagna. We’ve had beef stroganoff. We’ve had fried chicken. We’ve had fried shrimp. We’ve had fried fish. We’ve had tons of barbecue. I think we had some ribs one day.”

When word spread in Alberta City about the operation, Hunter said, residents brought food out of their freezers.

One day, ground venison was donated.

“We had a lady donate quail,” Rosenbaum said. “I’ve been marinating it all day in buttermilk and all sorts of good stuff, and I’m going to cook it for dinner tonight.”

Join the conversation by clicking to comment or email Kausler at dkausler@bhamnews.com.

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