Joyce Emergency Planning and Prep (JEPP) acquired a model MKT-99 Military Kitchen Trailer in May 2018 for feeding the community during a disaster. Shortly thereafter, on June 2, two National Guardsmen joined interested area volunteers at the Joyce Bible Church to demonstrate how to unfold and set up the surplus army field kitchen. The trailer was then transported to another location where its cabinet assemblies, MBU burner units, griddles, warming stations, stainless steel cookware, insulated liquid dispensers, canopy roof, canvas vinyl siding and other contents were dismantled, thoroughly scrubbed and inventoried. The two-wheeled, largely aluminum, trailer-mounted kitchen (6,000 lbs when fully loaded) will enable JEPP to feed more than 300 people per day in the wake of mega quakes or other major disasters that might isolate Joyce fore a period of time.
The images below depict the field kitchen folded and unfolded, show members of the JEPP team at work cleaning and sorting its contents, and exhibit the cook station and some of the gear to be used when fully operational.
On Sunday, June 17, 2018, members of the JEPP Committee and other local volunteers rehearsed packing and preparing the mobile kitchen for travel and storage. All of the previously-scrubbed equipment was sequentially placed inside the MKT during the exercise, according to instructions in the Army's manual, and the mobile kitchen's travel tarps were properly secured before the unit was stored under cover. The following images capture steps taken during the process.
In the spring of 2020, JEPP added a third storage facility to house three large pieces of equipment - the Army field kitchen, one of its two water filtration trailers, and a large trailed generator - and other items including a small portable generator, two barrels of diesel fuel and perhaps a few even smaller items. The steel shed, located behind the Joyce Bible Church, was weathered sealed and made secure after its erection.
