Bears BBQ owner travels to Turkey to provide earthquake relief [Video]

ELBISTAN, Kahramanmaraş — Jamie McDonald is no stranger to visiting countries hit by natural and man-made disasters and the damage he is seeing in Turkey after a recent earthquake is “staggering.”

McDonald, the owner of Bear’s Smokehouse restaurants, is on the ground in Elbistan, Turkey working and providing meals with the World Central Kitchen.

“It’s devastation, a really, a horribly sad situation,” said McDonald via a Zoom interview, from a World Central Kitchen serving center in Elbistan.

Elbistan is a town of approximately 150,000 people about 100 miles from the Syrian border.

“I would say at least 80% of the buildings in the town are destroyed or damaged in a manner that won’t be usable in the future,” McDonald added.

It’s been about a month since the Feb. 6 earthquake and strong aftershocks devastated parts of Turkey and Syria. More than …