Bakers that couldn’t escape the flooding during Hurricane Harvey decided to make the most of their time by taking over 4,000 pounds of flour and baking for two days straight.
The bakers were working late at El Bolillo Bakery in Houston, part of a chain of bakeries that specializes in Mexican baked goods. The four of them realized they could not leave due to the rising flood waters. Instead of worrying about themselves, they decided to think of others, as The Independent reported.
“When they realized they were stuck, they decided to keep themselves busy and help the community and made as many loaves of bread as they could,” said the bakery’s manager, Brian Alvarado, to The Independent.
The crew went to work day and night baking hundreds of loaves of buns and sweet bread. Fortunately, the bakery was not affected by power outages and was out of reach of flood waters, despite nearby streets being submerged, reported the Houston Chronicle.
When the bakers were finally able to head home, only one of them saw any flood damage on his property. The rest were unaffected.
“By the time the owner managed to get to them, they had made so much bread that we took the loaves to loads of emergency centers across the city for people affected by the floods,” said Alvarado. “We didn’t count exactly how many loaves they made, but they used 4,400 pounds of flour.”
El Bolillo’s Facebook page is keeping the public updated on their modified hours during the disaster situation as well as supply shortages. Videos show massive numbers of customers stocking up on numerous loaves.
Many of the bakery’s Facebook fans are praising them for the heroic deed. A post showing the trapped bakers and their goods, talking about how they donated the lot, in three days garnered over 6,000 likes, 4,000 shares, and nearly 500 comments. Compliments are coming in from everywhere, even from overseas places like England and Finland.
The bakery has received a tremendous amount of new attention via traditional news media and social media. They have also set up a crowdfunding page on gofundme.com in order to accept donations to help the bakery’s employees replace cars, homes, and valuables that were lost in the hurricane while they continued to bake.
