Southern hospitality shines in cruise ship crisis

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - It's easy to be proud of Mobile and how folks helped when needed in the Triumph disaster. There were so many acts of kindness, some many of us will never know about. One of those acts came from Saucy-Q-BBQ.

If you thought southern hospitality was a thing of the past, think again.

"One man said BBQ, oh wow, I hope you have some baked beans. I said it wouldn't be BBQ without the baked beans," said Elbert Wingfield.

Wingfield owns Saucy-Q, BBQ and brought his hospitality down to families at the cruise terminal. He started preparing the food at 5:30 a.m.

"We took the food down there about 11 a.m. and we stayed there for while. Then the mayor's office called and said they needed more food so we took more food back down there," Wingfield said.

BBQ, pulled pork, potato salad, even bread pudding. No one had to pay a dime for it.

Wingfield said, ‘That's what we do, take care of people.”

He said it’s part of the culture in the South.

"We are southerners, so we do that Christian thing. Regardless to what people do to us because we're going to get a bigger reward in the end," Wingfield said.

Wingfield can't tell you how many people he fed, or how many hours he spent doing it. He did say however, when you give, it comes back to you.

"It made me feel good, and that's reward enough," Wingfield said.

Several other local businesses volunteered as well including Krispy Kreme, Creme and Sugar, Coke-A-Cola, McDonalds, and the Salvation Army.