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'I feed people, that's my heart.' One Kentucky chef delivers food and hope to flood victims

Chef Joe Arvin cooks up food for those affected by the flooding in Eastern Kentucky. (Joe Arvin)
Chef Joe Arvin cooks up food for those affected by the flooding in Eastern Kentucky. (Joe Arvin)

More than 1,300 people have been rescued from the flooding in Eastern Kentucky that’s killed at least 37. Now the region is in a heat wave — making rescue difficult and putting vulnerable people, many without shelter, water or electricity, at further risk. One of the bright spots in this grim story has been the national response — donations are pouring in, mostly financial.

But for chef Joe Arvin, there was no question about what he’d do. “I feed people,” he says. And so he did. He and his wife and several volunteers spent 30 hours cooking hundreds of pounds of beef and pork and headed over sometimes barely-passable roads to deliver food, water and supplies.

Lexington, Kentucky-based Arvin has been featured on a variety of cooking shows and competitions and has two Culinary Federation gold medals. He joins Here & Now‘s Robin Young to talk about the relief efforts in Kentucky.

Places to donate:

Flooding in Eastern Kentucky made some roads nearly unpassable. (Joe Arvin)

A can sinks in the aftermath of flooding. (Joe Arvin)

A bus stands abandoned in the flooding devastation. (Joe Arvin)

Chef Joe Arvin cooking for flood survivors. (Courtesy of Joe Arvin)

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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