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Minuteman Press Franchisee Garry Conley Helps Tornado Victims in London, KY Through Operation: Appalachia Strong

By: Minuteman Press Int'l. |  3 Shares     118 Reads

June 12, 2025 // Franchising.com // LONDON, Ky. – On May 16, 2025, a devastating EF4 tornado hit Garry Conley’s hometown of London, KY as well as other surrounding communities. Garry explains, “The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado’s strength after surveying the damage. Winds reached 170 mph and the EF4 tornado caused widespread destruction including the leveling of entire neighborhoods, 1700 homes, and it resulted in 19 fatalities. 

Garry, who has owned Minuteman Press in London, KY since April of 2004, is also the Founder and Coordinator of Operation: Appalachia Strong, a non-profit disaster response team that delivers hot meals to victims of natural disasters. Garry shares, “In 2 and a half years, what started as two guys, a truck, and a grill has become a very successful team that delivers help, hope, and healing to struggling communities.”

When the tornado hit London, Garry and his team were 100 miles away providing food and meals to flood victims in Jackson, KY. He explains, “Since 2022, we have made 15 trips into Eastern KY, Western NC and Eastern TN to assist with flood response and provide nourishing meals to people who lost everything. We were serving flood victims in Jackson when the weatherman said storms were coming to London. Our team watched it unfold at midnight on our cell phones from over 100 miles away. We were on phones with our families as the tornado tore through our neighborhoods. Fortunately, no one connected with our team was seriously affected. The tornado path was only a few hundred feet from our own homes but did no serious damage. We knew then that within the next week we would be bringing everything we had to serve our own home town, friends, family, and neighbors.”

Providing Food & Relief at Home

On Memorial Day Weekend (May 24-26, 2025), Garry and the team at Operation: Appalachia Strong along with community volunteers collected donations and prepared/served meals to tornado victims in London. Garry says, “The response from the community has been overwhelming. Donations of food, supplies, and money have come in from some of the most unexpected places. We set up on the Minuteman Press parking lot on Friday and were serving breakfast Saturday morning at 8 am. We switched to lunch at noon and served until the crowd died down. Over the 3-day holiday weekend, we served about 2000 meals, via dine in, carry out or delivery.”

He adds, “Most of those meals were delivered to job sites where workers were still digging out from the tornado a week earlier. I usually have 12 to 15 volunteers that make this happen but over the 3-day event we had 75 volunteers show up to help. I expected 12 for Memorial Day but 35 arrived and did whatever I asked them to do. It was an amazing weekend that was very successful.  We looked at this like we had two years of practice to prepare us for the real deal. These were not strangers. These were our neighbors, our friends, our extended family in our home town.”

Garry reflects, “We take ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ seriously. Our goal is to empower survivors, rebuild communities, and foster resilience in the face of adversity. Together, we strive to make a meaningful impact during times of crisis and create a brighter future for all those affected by disaster. This is an area I have wanted to pursue for over 30 years. I am finally at a point in my life where I can go out and help provide a little bit of comfort and reassurance to those in need following such heartbreaking and tragic events. I am truly grateful to be able to give back in this way.”

Minuteman Press International applauds Garry Conley and everyone at Operation: Appalachia Strong for their dedication to their community during such a trying time.

SOURCE Minuteman Press International

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