Waco pastor taking barbeque to Asheville, North Carolina following the devastation of Hurricane Helene

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - All across Central Texas people are doing what they can to help North Carolina following the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

The pastor of Calvary Chapel in Waco has helped with many disasters over the last 20 years and now he's heading to Asheville, NC to lend a helping hand.

Pastor Albert Fuentes is no stranger to helping those in need after a disaster.

"We've always gone to disasters when there were hurricanes or tornadoes," Fuentes said. "We went to Joplin, Missouri when they had their F-5, we went to Katrina way back in the early 2000s."

In 2020 he was down in Louisiana after several hurricanes when he noticed that food was scarce. This prompted him to start bringing barbeque with him on his trips, which is how the Pastor Fu and Son food truck began.

""The food was such a hit and people would cry and just testify about how blessed they were and so we just thought we would start going down, setting up, and feeding," Fuentes said.

Fuentes says as soon as he heard about the devastation in Asheville, him and his church immediately got to work.

"We're hoping to take about 500 pounds and so I've been smoking briskets, 10 a day, for the past week," Fuentes said. "Today we cut the briskets into 4 pieces and vacuum sealed them, that took us about an hour and a half and eight people to do."

Instead of taking the truck this time, Fuentes says they're taking everything needed for a mobile kitchen.

"I'm taking a freezer, around six foot freezer, I'm taking a generator, I'm taking gas, and a smoker, I'm taking charcoal, taking tables," Fuentes said. "Everything they need to set up a kitchen and I'm going to leave it with them. It'll be there for weeks to come to help them out."

This Tuesday, Fuentes will be driving up to the Calvary Chapel in Asheville to drop everything off, and he's already planning to make more trips if needed.

He says the best part of all of this is seeing and hearing people's reactions.

"When somebody says, 'man I thank God for you' you know that's a privilege," Fuentes said.