By Suzanne Lawler

How many times have you heard someone say, ‘I cooked that with love’?

When it comes to “Big Nick” Harden, many in his town believe it’s hard to imagine anyone who gives more of their heart and soul to a community through food.

Harden owns Big Nick’s restaurant and also serves as a city councilman in Valdosta, Georgia. When Hurricane Helene made its way through the Gulf of Mexico targeting the Big Bend of Florida and South Georgia, Harden knew it could get bad. “We were being briefed on what was to come,” he recalled. “I said we’re going to have to help folks, one thing I can do is cook.”

Helene did leave a path of destruction, coming through Georgia as a Category 2 hurricane. In Valdosta, people had to endure many hardships, living without power, grappling with trees inside their homes, and surviving the trauma of enduring the wrath of a hurricane. The American Red Cross deployed over 2,000 trained disaster workers throughout the Southeast to help families living with the devastation that was left behind. Part of that process is working with generous partners like Harden.

He also lit a fire under everyone he knew. A couple of professional athletes sent Harden donations, he recruited some of his family to help cook and told his crew they all had a new mission. “My staff is amazing, I grabbed the servers, and they helped me prep and we were able to get it done,” he said proudly. “They‘ve been working sunup to sundown you know about 60 employees and family members,” he calculated.

Harden has a history with the Red Cross. He served as a board member of the South Central Georgia Chapter of the Red Cross from 2017-2019 and routinely encourages people to give blood. So, he quickly teamed up with the humanitarian organization and filled up Emergency Response Vehicles twice a day to go out into the community to provide lunch and dinner. “And they said can you do 900 plates, and I was like sure we can make 900 plates and then it turned from 900 to 2,000 and then to 5,000 plates daily, “he calculated. “I think we did like 33,000 meals since the hurricane.” Harden actually provided more than 40,000 meals to the Red Cross.

Each box came with all the fixings, bread, sauce and sides. On any given day in the early hours of October, his staff was boiling collard greens, breading chicken for the fryer or spreading cheese on giant casserole trays. Harden has a giant smoker that went into overdrive slowly roasting chicken and pork chops. “We’re going to put that smoked chicken and pair it with some noodles and parmesan so it’s like smoked chicken parmesan,” he said with a grin.

Yurshema Flanders is the director of the Lowndes Associated Ministries to People (LAMP), which is a homeless shelter in the area. She says she felt the love from Harden and the Red Cross. “That is a sign that help is here, during this time when you don’t know what else to do, you're struggling to make sure you and your family are being fed,” she said. “Big Nick has been that driving force that the Red Cross has been using to make sure that people in the community are receiving hot meals during this difficult time.”

After Helene, Harden couldn’t console every one of his neighbors in person but through the Red Cross, he offered food as an avenue of hope. “It’s incredible to partner with the Red Cross you know, I’ve seen the Red Cross at work for so long,” he said choking up. “Just to be a part of that, be in that fold, I’m just glad we could do our part. I’m just glad we could give back.”

For more on how the Red Cross is helping families across the Southeast as they recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, visit redcross.org.