Kentucky tornado victims lost everything. So Callaway Beef 'O' Brady's owner set out to help cook meals

PANAMA CITY — A local family is joining in the effort to aid those affected by recent catastrophic tornados in the Midwest.

Emily and Chris Caton, owners of Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Callaway, are a part of the Mercy Chefs organization, which is a nonprofit disaster relief organization that provides professionally prepared, restaurant-quality meals to victims, volunteers and first responders in natural disasters and national emergencies.

A string of tornadoes ripped through eight states on Friday night leading into Saturday morning, which demolished thousands of houses and killed around 100 people. In Kentucky alone, the tornadoes have claimed the lives of 80 people and counting, making it the deadliest tornado event in the state’s history.

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Chris Caton, a managing deployment chef for Mercy Chefs, said he flew into Nashville early Saturday morning, then made the two-hour trek to Mayfield, Kentucky where thousands of homes were destroyed. Days prior to the tornadoes hitting, Mercy Chefs was deployed in Waverly, Tennessee to do holiday outreach for flood victims when they were sent to Mayfield.

Caton and his team are currently working around 20 hours a day, providing 4,000 hot meals while staying at His House Ministries and sleeping on air mattresses.

“They recently got the power back but we’re having a lot of water issues still,” Chris said.

Emily said Chris and the chefs are used to “roughing it” when they are deployed.

“During Hurricane Ida, they were in a building where the ceiling collapsed, sleeping on air mattresses. I mean, it’s not easy,” Emily said. “It’s not just the work that is difficult, it’s the entire experience, but they really are just amazing people. Those people were built to do this. Chris was built to do this.”

Worse than even Hurricane Michael

Describing the tornado aftermath as somber and something he has never witnessed before, Chris said certain parts have already stuck out to him, such as helping to feed the search and rescue team for the Mayfield Consumer Products factory that collapsed.

“Last night, we drove to the actual candle factory, we’re feeding the search and rescue mission,” Chris said. “That was a sight. I got some pictures but it’s just so gloomy. I've never seen anything like it. And we went through Hurricane Michael. I saw semi-trucks pulled over and whole tractor-trailers pulled over on their sides and it’s all just decimated.”

Emily said she knew something was different over the phone and the way he was describing what he saw.

“He’s seen a lot of disasters so, desensitized is not the right word,” Emily said. “But when he calls and says it’s bad, it’s bad.”

Chris said it took his breath away to see the damage but starting at 5 a.m. Sunday morning, he got to work with prepping his area and setting up. So far, they’ve cooked multiple meals, including a four-course Italian dinner and Chicken pot pie.

“It just depends on what we get, sometimes we get different donations, just as long as it’s safe,” Chris said. “We use that, we try to incorporate whatever we have, so nothing gets wasted. But we chef-prepare meals that are just awesome. We get a lot of compliments on how great the meals are, it really lifts their spirits after going through such a catastrophe.”

Chris added that he loves what he does and helping those affected by the disasters.

“It’s really great, it’s why I do it,” Chris said. “I worked over 20 hours yesterday and I wouldn’t even really get tired, I was just go, go go.”

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The calling of Mercy Chefs

The Catons, who’ve owned their restaurant for 14 years, were first introduced to the faith-based organization Mercy Chefs when they came to support families during the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in 2018. Emily said she felt it was a calling.

“You find yourself not really knowing what to do with your hands at some point and Mercy Chefs we had just kind of seen, I didn’t know much about them at the time,” Emily Caton said. “But we saw that they were serving here and I just went online and signed me and Chris up. I like to sign him up for things.”

Emily Caton said everything in Bay County was either wiped out or shut down, so signing the entire family up to volunteer was just natural. However, after meeting one of the managing chefs while volunteering, she said Chris and herself fell in love with the organization and that it was a “match made in heaven.”

Chris received his culinary certificate at Gulf Coast State College back in 2007 and Emily said he felt really connected to the organization’s goals and passions while giving him the ability to show off his skills.

“Where that makes a huge difference is, they’re not giving them canned peas or peaches. They are working with fresh ingredients,” Emily said. “They work really hard to make sure the provisions are there; the manpower is there. To hand someone a real meal, to hand a family a real meal that’s hot where they can sit down with you and really enjoy it.”

Chris Caton was brought on to the staff when Hurricane Sally hit and has been a part of the team for the past 18 months. In 2021 alone, he has done nine deployments in seven states, Emily said.

“He is very active. He is gone, I'd say, a third of the year,” Emily said.

The Caton’s now have a full routine for when Chris needs to be deployed, having bags ready to go for different methods of travel and whether or not there is water and power. Emily describes the deployment process as “fast.”

“A lot of it is ‘This is happening, get ready,’ and sometimes they will say ‘Go ahead and pack your bags, we’ll just let you know,’ or just a plane ticket confirmation shows up in his email,” Emily said. “It’s very fast, deployments happen very fast.”

The Community's Impact on the Catons

The entire Caton family, including their two kids Audrey and Sam, have also participated in disaster relief with Mercy Chefs. After going through Michael in 2018, she said both her family and community understand how important it is to help those in need and that they have experienced tragedy.

“To say that Chris and I personally have a heart for disaster relief is an understatement. I believe a lot of people in this area do; in fact, I can confirm it,” Emily said. “I know a lot of people in our community have a huge heart for disaster relief. It is amazing the people in Bay County and how passionate they are, when they see something, your mind just goes back to Hurricane Michael.”

Both Chris and Emily also thank the community for giving them the opportunity to send Chris on these missions. Since he is the only Mercy Chef in Bay County, Emily feels as though he is their representative of the community. She adds that the community is sending him to these areas with every meal they order inside, with every to-go order, with every drink order.

“Mercy Chefs always said they can’t go unless we send them, meaning financial support, volunteer ship, all these things are so, so important,” Emily Caton said. “From a personal side, for Chris, Chef, and myself, the community sends him.”

Chris said he loves the work he does and feels he has found a second family within Mercy Chefs.

“I’ve been in the restaurant industry for most of my career and finally get my tribe,” Chris Caton said. “Professional chefs that just have similar personalities, we all just get along. We’re a big family.”

The Catons said the best part is taking Bay County with them whenever they do their missions.

“If there is one thing we have learned through this and Chris being a part of Mercy Chefs, we have learned that this county is filled with awesome, humble, proud, resilient, and loyal people,” Emily said. “We are so proud of the community we are from and we are proud to represent them.”

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Bay County restaurant owner feeds Mayfield Kentucky tornado victims