Dallas nonprofit loses thousands of pounds of meat meant to feed homeless during power outages
DALLAS - Thousands of North Texans have been without power for days after strong winds knocked over trees and power lines on Thursday.
The days without power have forced many to lose hundreds of dollars in food.
While the power is now back at the nonprofit Our Calling, the recovery is far from over.
"We already work with people experiencing a hard time, living on the streets and so for us, we're working in a hard time, trying to care for people living in hard time," said Wayne Walker, CEO of Our Calling.
READ MORE: Power outages: Crews will work 'through the weekend' to restore power, Oncor says
The nonprofit lost thousands of pounds of meat that would have helped feed hungry people without homes.
"This is our walk-in freezer where we store pallets of meat," said Walker. "The water is from everything thawed out. So all that meat is spoiled a lot of it has had to be thrown away."
The power finally came on Thursday night after three full days in the dark.
A food truck running on generators came to Our Calling Friday to help feed people.
Our Calling serves 300 to 500 people a day in Dallas and outreach teams visit 4,000 locations throughout the county.
That work has continued throughout the outage.
"We have not stopped any of our services, even with loss of power. We've figured out ways to be able to care for our neighbors in the parking lot and let them in the last few days with flashlights," said Walker.
Volunteers found many in need of extra help after the damaging winds Tuesday morning.
"If you think the damage is bad at someone's house, imagine you're sleeping in a tent in the woods," Walker said.
A silver lining, perhaps, is a greater openness to help.
"Rather than give someone another tent, we would rather get them off the street. Last year, we helped people exit homelessness almost 1,400 times," said Walker. "We hope that as terrible as this system is and as bad as it has been, that the community can rally together to help take care of those needs we have and neighbors have, and we can use all of this to get more people off the street and for us, also to help lead people to Christ."
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Power outages: Crews will work 'through the weekend' to restore power, Oncor says
Oncor says Thursday's storms caused delays in its power restoration efforts.
Enrique Flores says he woke up to the storm while sleeping outside by the library downtown.
"From one second to the next it just came down," Flores said. "We took shelter underneath that office building that's right next door there. The guard came out and made sure we were okay."
Flores said he is grateful for the support from Our Calling.
"I haven't known what it is like to go in a loving environment, like a no conditions love, and this place has it," he said.
In its latest update, Oncor says the company will work through the weekend to make repairs in the hardest-hit areas.