PRAIRIE GROVE, Ark. — On Thursday, Oct. 31, severe weather caused many in Prairie Grove to wake up to power outages and for some, severe damage to their homes. One family found a way to bring a little brightness to their neighbors after a scary night.
Kyle and Isabella Norris were among those impacted by strong storms through the night and dealing with damage to their property and power outages in the mornings.
Knowing their neighbors were in the same boat, they had an idea: to fire up their charcoal grill and cook breakfast for anyone who wanted to stop by.
Isabella posted in a local Facebook group, inviting anyone in the area to bring a fork and come enjoy bacon, sausage and eggs cooked on the grill.
“I expected maybe 20 people to see it,” she said.
Within minutes, her post generated hundreds of likes and dozens of comments, with other Prairie Grove residents voicing their support, expressing interest or asking how they could pitch in.
“[Kyle] was like, ‘I’ll cook till the food runs out,’ and we've had people stop by,” Isabella said.
Not all of the hundreds who showed their support online showed up in person, but the ones who did were grateful for the gesture.
“If we can make someone's life a little easier today and just give them breakfast, that's one less thing to worry about,” Kyle said.
The guests at breakfast included the Norris’ next door neighbors, Stephen, Staci and Sonny Kemp, who had extensive damage to their vehicles, camper, and the thick grove of trees that used to stand in their yard.
“It went from being an actual grove, shaded and very cool, to now you can see blocks all around,” Staci said.
During an otherwise somber morning, the invitation from their next door neighbors came as a pleasant surprise.
“I was like, ‘Well, I have paper plates,’ and then other people started bringing eggs and stuff,” Staci said. “The community is clearly pulling through. We all barely know each other, but we know we're going to be here for each other.”
The outpouring of support, the Norris family said, shows the strength of this close knit community, especially in hard times.
“I've always had a small town culture,” Kyle said. “It's part of me … We want our kids to have that kind of culture and value system where it's like, ‘Hey, help your neighbor in times like that and just really come together."