Claremore Woman Returns Home After Cooking For Rescue Crews At Florida Condo Collapse Site

A Green Country woman who spent the past 15 days cooking for rescue crews in Surfside back home. Her Mercy Chefs team is still in Florida and will stay there until the last rescue crew leaves.

Thursday, July 15th 2021, 5:16 pm

By: Sawyer Buccy

A Claremore woman is back home tonight after serving homecooked meals to rescue crews in Surfside, Florida, for 15 days.

She encourages Oklahomans to hear the stories of rescue crews still searching for victims and to donate so they can keep the hot meals coming.

"I have fed millions of people since Mercy Chefs and the most rewarding meals I have served are really the most basic and rustic meals - chicken pot pie, meatloaf," said Chef Lisa Saylor, Director of Disaster Relief with Mercy Chefs.

Saylor makes food that speaks to the soul - food that heals, even if it is just for a moment.

"I remember during Hurricane Michael, we had an elderly lady who came to our hospitality tent. I asked her how she was doing, and she looked up at me with big tears in her eyes and said, 'for a brief moment I wasn't on my own, I was in grandma's kitchen,'" said Saylor.

Mercy Chefs feeds people warm, homecooked meals after disasters. Saylor has worked with them for eight years.

"I feel like this mission at Surfside was probably one of the most important things that Mercy Chefs has ever done," said Saylor.

She got home from Florida Wednesday night. Her mission now is to get Oklahomans involved in the Surfside community, hearing the stories of the rescue crews and donating money to keep the hot meals coming.

"Grown men, face down in the dirt crying. I will never forget that, on the day that they found several small children," said Saylor.

Saylor said she saw crews who would go out onto the pile of rubble as if they were searching for their own family members. She said sometimes they came into camp with feet cut from the steel coming up through their boots while they searched. She said some were soaked in rain at times, moving rubble with buckets.

With all the things crews had to worry about, Mercy Chefs made sure a hot meal wasn't one of them.

"I really am honored to be a part of this," said Saylor. "I am really honored that God has gifted me with a skillset to make a difference.”

There is still a Mercy Chefs team in Surfside serving rescue crews. If you would like to help them continue doing this kind of work, donate here.