A beloved bakery in Texas prioritized giving back to its community after the "devastating" snowstorm last week.
The unprecedented icy conditions brought by Winter Storm Uri in the Lone Star State left millions with power outages — which, in many cases, cut off their access to heat — and others were forced to deal with water shortages, leaving them without ways to drink or shower.
The Crema Bakery & Cafe in Austin, Texas, began distributing groceries to those in need after losing all their own inventory due to days-long outages. Jessica and her wife, Janessa, who own the establishment, told CNN the fallout of the winter storm was "devastating."
"When the storm hit last week, it was just chaos and madness for everybody," Janessa said. "Grocery stores have been out of all of the staples. Lines are really long, and we've got a lot of families and a lot of elderly in our community who just needed a way to be able to get food."
Crema announced on Facebook Wednesday that they have given away $10,000 in food, water and supplies in a matter of five days.
"In addition to our daily distribution, we've shared with Austin Mutual Aid and a group of educators trying to help low-income students and their families," they wrote in the post. "That's produce, meat, milk, eggs and more to feed hundreds, probably thousands of our neighbors during this really, really hard week."
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"Thanks to OUR community. We'll be back at it tomorrow at 10am. If you know anyone who is in need, send them our way," they added. "If you need anything, please come by. If you can't make it, please message us – we'll do our best to get food to you. Whether you've given or received… thank you! We love you. And we're honored to serve you."
Jessica told CNN that they felt an obligation to help out as much as they could.
"Being in the position that we are, we feel a responsibility to our community. Our job is to feed people," the businessperson explained. " … We were less worried about getting things going for ourselves and more about getting the shop back open, and being able to mobilize our community and feed the people who need it the most."
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