New Kensington's Knead Café joins hurricane relief efforts, donating revenue from sales

Alle-Kiski Valley residents can help victims of hurricanes Helene and Milton by having lunch this week in New Kensington.

Knead Community Café announced it will donate all revenue from food sales this week to World Central Kitchen, which is providing meals to those affected by the natural disasters.

That will include any “pay it forward” donations, money diners give over the suggested donation price of meals that Knead serves, from Tuesday through Friday.

Chef Jose Andres and his wife, Patricia, founded World Central Kitchen after helping to feed people in Haiti following an earthquake in 2010. It since has expanded its relief efforts around the world, including in the U.S.

World Central Kitchen teams are now in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Mexico, Gaza, Lebanon, Israel and Ukraine.

“Their mission ties in with our mission in terms of feeding people. That’s why we chose them to make the donation to,” Knead co-founder Kevin Bode said.

The donation week was delayed from last week because the cafe had just rolled out its new menu for the fall and winter, which features many new dishes.

Based on typical sales, Bode expects Knead will give at least $5,000 and up to possibly $10,000 at the end of the week.

“We believe in helping our neighbors, and our neighbors are not just local. We consider people in our country our neighbors as well,” Bode said. “We hope that if something happened here that other places would reach out for us as well. We just think it’s the right thing to do.”

Those wanting to help World Central Kitchen but unable to get to Knead this week can donate directly to the organization, Bode said.

Meanwhile, efforts to help North Carolina and Tennessee firefighters are continuing in New Kensington. A fifth tractor-trailer load of donated firefighting supplies left the city Saturday morning, and a sixth is loaded and waiting on word for where it’s needed, possibly to eastern Tennessee, fire Chief Ed Saliba Jr. said.

A seventh is three-fourths full, he said.

Fire departments from all over Western Pennsylvania, and as far north as Erie and as far east as Cambria County, have been giving turnout gear, breathing apparatus, hoses, fans, generators, pumps, cots, tools, saws and pallets of water since the effort began Oct. 3.

“It’s incredible how all of these volunteer fire departments and the career fire departments have come together and just went through and donated some surplus equipment. Some of this stuff was brand new and had the tags still on it,” Saliba said. “Their thing was they need it now, and it’s important they get it now.

“The fire departments were the first ones that were activated in the storm. And for them to be able to help the people within their districts, they need equipment because they lost everything. In order for them to provide the service and be able to help, we wanted to get them up on their feet.”

After collecting and taking donations to North Carolina, area real estate agent Cameron Yockey announced he is forming the Horizon Cares Foundation to provide help to those who have suffered losses in house fires, catastrophic events, loss of income and natural disasters.

Yockey, owner of Realty ONE Group Horizon, said he will be seeking nonprofit status for the foundation.

“Most of our work will be done on a local level as it always has been; however, we will reach our arms out in any situations that we can when natural disasters occur. Our efforts will assist people, children and animals,” he said in a Facebook post.

Yockey could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Among other relief efforts in the area was one targeting farmers in North Carolina.

Z and N Cattle Co., a family-owned cattle company in South Bend Township, Armstrong County, took down seven trucks and trailers of donated supplies that included feed, hay, generators and fencing supplies. Co-owner Nick DiFilippo said it was the idea of his son, Joey.

While originally planning to take the donations to a live stock exchange in Canton, they found trucks and trailers lined up for at least a mile waiting to drop off donations, DiFilippo said. They instead took what they had to Newland, about 86 miles northeast and which they had driven through on their way to Canton.

“We were able to deliver stuff directly to the farmers,” DiFilippo said. “There are two farmers that got all the fence stuff. A third one took the feed and hay. There was tons of stuff we just left for the firemen to deliver.”