HEROES of HARVEY
Anthony and Angela Hall
A cart of homemade meals feels heaven sent.
When Angela Hall rolled her cart, filled to the brim with homemade food, into David Feille’s neighborhood, he felt like an angel had arrived in the midst of Harvey’s aftermath.
“It was like there was a little sunshine peeking through the clouds,” Feille said. “It just warmed your heart.”
His house flooded for the first time in 40 years, decimating his kitchen. “Cooking for ourselves was a challenge — and, for everyone else in this area, it was the same thing,” he said. “Even grabbing food felt like a chore.”
Then Angela knocked on his door.
A couple of days earlier, she and her husband, Anthony, were volunteering at a local shelter when they met a woman who was sitting with her children away from the rest of the group. The family had lost everything. Something about them struck a chord. Angela made a promise: “I’ll feed you.”
She started bringing homemade meals to the family at the shelter, and she continued when they returned home.
When she arrived at their house, she realized the whole neighborhood was dealing with the same problem. Before long, she was feeding many of them, bringing meals going door-todoor. Feille was on her delivery route.
“Angela’s story is one of an individual person who stepped forward at a tough time because she believed it was the right thing to do — and has made more of a difference than she could probably ever know,” Feille said. “It wasn't a convenient time in Angela and Anthony's life to do what they did, but it was what was needed to be done at that time.”
The Halls, after all, had trouble of their own. The storm ruined the roof at their home in Humble, and even today, the couple is dealing with repairs and renovations. They’re also two putting two children through college, and they have two daughters at home.
The Halls both are dealing with health issues. Anthony had back surgery before the hurricane, and Angela struggles with rheumatoid arthritis and Sjögren’s, an autoimmune disease. But the couple knew they could put their skills in the kitchen to use.
They had made meals for a couple of hundred people before, and they decided to do it again, every day they could.
They started by feeding their neighbors during the storm. When the clouds cleared, they headed to local shelters, bringing home-cooked meals. Then, Angela began delivering food directly to homes.
Angela said they prepared 250 to 300 plates a day. The Halls spent thousands of dollars of their own money to cover the expense.
“We just did whatever we had to do because there was such a great need,” Angela said.
They recruited their four girls and some neighborhood volunteers to help. “We basically turned the house into a prep kitchen,” Anthony said. “We’d get up at 7 a.m. to start cooking.”
Angela would send out texts to the list of phone numbers she had accumulated of people in need. She was willing to travel to anyone who responded, and she always returned with her wagon emptied.
Angela continues to deliver meals today, as she watches the neighborhoods rebuild.
“You drive by, and there are no more mounds of stuff outside,” Angela said. “But still on the inside, many are not fixed. It’s easy for us to forget. That’s why I have to keep going back.”
For Hurricane Harvey victims, a cart of homemade meals feels heaven sent