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Hundreds of Portage residents receive free meal provided by Consumers Energy after tornado

Residents are thankful for the free meals as the community begins to move forward.

PORTAGE, Mich. — Consumers Energy provided free lunch and dinner to the Kalamazoo and Portage communities on Saturday to recognize their patience and resilience after tornados caused major damage and impacted hundreds of families.

Residents said they're thankful for the free meals of tacos and hot dogs as the community begins to move forward.

“I think that as a community it will bring us closer together,” Libby Flora of Portage said.

Tornados on Tuesday damaged several homes and left some with little to nothing. 

Hundreds of residents lined up for free lunch and dinner provided by the food trucks Theresa’s Kitchen and Frances Street Hot Dogs.

More than 34,000 residents had power outages as tornados swept through the area Tuesday night, leaving some without power for as long as two days. 

Consumers Energy said hundreds of crews worked around the clock to restore power for residents as quickly and safely as possible. 

Some said the major damage has brought the community together during their time of need.

“I feel like the tornado tried to destroy us, but I think we came together to help each other get back on the same track we were before,” said Katelyn Suarez of Portage.

Consumers Energy said the free meals have helped bring the community together.

“We just want to say thanks and dinner is on us tonight, you don't have to cook,” said Community Affairs Manager Derek Nofz. "We have a couple of different food trucks, hot dogs and a Mexican food truck and we're happy to provide dinner.”

Tacos, quesadillas, tamales, burritos and hot dogs were some of the items on the menu. 

“We want to say thank you to the community for your patience when we were restoring power, and thank you for what we've seen here today at the shelter, all of the people that are coming here wanting to help, it's just amazing to see this community,” Nofz said.

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