Following Winter Storm Fern, many Oxonians were left without heat or water — and with growling stomachs.
To address the needs of the community, various local restaurants gave away meals for free, including Connie’s Chicken and Loco Taco.
From Jan. 30 to Feb. 5., Connie’s Chicken offered meals to those in Oxford and Lafayette County, free of charge. The fast-casual restaurant served sausage and chicken biscuits and donuts for breakfast, as well as chicken tenders and fries for lunch and dinner.
Sam Pennington, general manager of Connie’s Chicken in Oxford, said the destruction from the storm put pressure on everyone in the community.
“We knew a lot of people were without work for a week or two,” Pennington said. “Money’s probably tight. You’ve got to repair your house, or something got hit.”
Sponsors aided Connie’s Chicken to fund the free meals, including Foundation Strategies, Good Earth Landscape, State Farm Will Poole Agency, Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center, Memphis Scrap, Oxford Glass, Dipstix, Oxford Health and Rehab, Farm Bureau and Sayle Oil Company.
“It was kind of a split where (the sponsors) would pay (for the) cost of goods, like our chicken and fries … and then we were paying for the labor and actually putting it together,” Pennington said.
Pennington estimates Connie’s served approximately 6,000 to 8,000 meals in the span of a week.
“A lot of people were coming here ready to pay,” Pennington said. “They’d have their card out, or they’d be handing me cash. I’m like, ‘No, I’m sorry. We’re doing it for the community today. There’s no payment necessary.’”
Loco Taco Oxford also provided free meals to the community. On Thursday, Jan. 29, Loco Taco opened its doors for University of Mississippi students, plating up whatever meal they wanted — for free. General manager Luis Sosa said it was an all-day effort to serve more than 2,000 hungry students.
“We opened at 11 (a.m.), and we didn’t stop until 9 at night, which is the time we closed,” Sosa said. “All day, it was all hands on deck. It was a very busy day.”
Loco Taco chose to offer meals following the storm damage on campus, Sosa said.
“We saw that a lot of (the) student population, they were either stuck here (in Oxford) or they were having difficulties getting to places,” Sosa said. “We saw that a lot of the university area had busted pipes and stuff like that, and we just felt it was a great contribution to (serve) students since they were going through a tough time.”
Loco Taco publicized the event through social media, leading students to make the trek from campus and beyond.
“A lot of the students, they saw it on Facebook, and they would come to us and they didn’t believe it,” Sosa said. “They were like, ‘Is it true you guys are giving free food to the Ole Miss students?’”
Pennington also said the wintry conditions continually impacted customers at Connie’s Chicken.
“There were a lot of, ‘God bless y’all’ and ‘You know this means a lot,’ hearing more people say that they’re still without power (or) they’re still without water,” Pennington said. “I had a guy telling me that he was getting icicles hanging off his house and boiling them just so they had water, like that’s the state they were in.”
Pennington, who lives in Pontotoc, Miss., said witnessing the destruction in Oxford was eye-opening and made him appreciate his impact on the community.
“I came up to check on the store (to) see how everything was doing, see if any pipes burst or anything,” Pennington said. “But coming into Oxford, I felt like I was entering a war zone. It was just truly mind-blowing to see how hard everybody got hit here.”
Sosa said he is grateful for the positive reception from UM students.
“A lot of the time, whenever you give stuff out for free, a lot of people kind of take advantage of it,” Sosa said. “Not in a bad way, but they just take it for granted. But you could tell they were really grateful. Every one of them said thank you. They were really appreciative of everything we’re doing, and we’re happy for that.”
