North Carolina chef and PBS star Vivian Howard is raising money to help an Ocracoke restaurant recover from Hurricane Dorian.
Howard, host of the award-winning PBS show, “A Chef’s Life,” is selling super soft gray short sleeve shirts emblazoned with the saying “One Island Under Tacos” on her website to benefit Eduardo Chavez’s beloved Ocracoke establishment Eduardo’s taco stand.
As the eye of Hurricane Dorian moved past Ocracoke, a barrier island 26 miles off the North Carolina mainland coast, water from the Pamlico Sound rushed into the village rising seven feet in two hours. Floodwaters in the village reached unprecedented levels and damaged most homes and businesses. Nearly a month after Hurricane Dorian, businesses are still closed and many houses are uninhabitable.
Three feet of storm surge hit Eduardo’s taco stand, knocking it off its foundation. Refrigeration and walk-in coolers were ruined and infrastructure around the truck was damaged beyond repair. The food truck is a total loss. Chavez’s home also received 20 inches of flooding. In a phone interview with The New York Times, he said, “I’ll just have to restart everything,” hanging up as he began to cry.
Each t-shirt costs $25 plus shipping. The shirts are on sale until midnight Oct. 25 and will ship starting on Nov. 15. All proceeds will be donated directly to Eduardo Chavez for the purpose of rebuilding his business.
“I visited Ocracoke for the first time since I was a kid this summer. I had long heard about Eduardo, his tacos, his generous spirit and his love of the island. Before I even met him I knew both he and his tacos were beloved pieces of what make Ocracoke Ocracoke. Once I met him it was clear why. To help Eduardo rebuild is to help Ocracoke become whole again,” says Vivian Howard.
A fundraising effort that Howard did last year to help those affected by Hurricane Florence by selling “Country as Cornbread” t-shirts raised almost $65,000 for the North Carolina Community Foundation’s Disaster Relief Fund. Proceeds were directed to residents of Jones County.
