Army of Normal Folks — Do What You Can

When Normal Folks Became “2nd Responders”

For Shop Talk, we dive into the worst ice storm to ever hit the American South. And the Oxford, MS citizens who became a relentless Army of bloody do-gooders!

John Currence: Saving Willie Mae’s

After Hurricane Katrina struck his hometown, Chef John Currence knew he had to do something and he quickly found it in saving the restaurant/home of an 89 year-old News Orleans woman named Willie Mae. He thought renovating Willie Mae’s Scotch House, whose fried chicken has been called the best in the world, would only take a few weeks. But John and an army of volunteers ended up rebuilding it for 16 months. And John, heroically went back and forth almost every single week, between his adopted home of Oxford, MS and his native New Orleans, which was 5 hours away.