Even though thousands of Grimes County residents are in the dark due to Hurricane Ike, many of them are enjoying hot meals, thanks to the Iola Volunteer Fire Department.

They are serving lunch and dinner daily to residents without power in Iola, Bedias and Shiro.

"The best thing we could offer as a department was organization and a place, said Iola Volunteer Fire Assistant Chief John Kochan. "Really what you've got is the community, all the different organizations and members of the community coming out and pitching in."

All of the food has been donated by stores, churches, community groups and even the Iola Independent School District.

"We got word from the school district that they had food in their freezers that was going to go bad if they didn't do something with it, because they are without power too, so we ended up with three freezers full of food," explained Kochan.

Lunch is served around 11:00 a.m. and dinner is at 7:00 p.m. at the Iola Volunteer Fire Station. If you'd like to make a donation, you can drop it off at the fire station or call 936-394-2222.