Local food truck looks to rebound after tornado

La Chica Loca was an up-and-coming food truck that served breakfast burritos using bizarre recipes.

Ever since the tornado that decimated parts of Jefferson City back in May, however, its rise was put on pause.

Amanda Jensen, co-owner of the truck, said the truck was nearly destroyed by the storm.

"You have to have perseverance," Jensen said. "that's the No. 1 thing."

That perseverance has manifested itself as a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to rebuild the truck. Jensen's target is $15,000 dollars, which would be enough to repair the truck and pay the commission that Kickstarter charges.

After fewer than 24 hours, the campaign had already reached just under $3,000 from 31 backers.

"Like I said, I have the best customers," she said. "From the minute the tornado hit, I got message after message saying 'how can we help, how can we help, how can we help?'"

The Kickstarter campaign comes with rewards. After donating a certain amount of money, items such as coupons for breakfast burritos, t-shirts and an invite to a grand re-opening party, become available. Jensen said that those rewards could be donated to first responders.

"They helped us out so much during the tornado," Jensen said. "I wanted to figure out a way to give back, even though I lost a lot, too."

The campaign is set to run until the morning of Aug. 9. Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing campaign system, meaning that if the goal of $15,000 isn't reached, Jensen and her partner won't receive any of the money. Jensen said she isn't too worried about missing the mark.

"It feels incredible to have this level of support," she said. "(Our customers) just support us so completely. It's so cool to be a part of Jefferson City."