PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Author's note: the above video is on file from April 2, 2020.
A disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization based in Virginia made a significant achievement this week, after serving millions of meals.
Mercy Chefs announced on Tuesday, Feb. 9 that it served its 10 millionth meal, reaching a milestone. It has served meals to a variety of people including victims, first responders, community volunteers and hospital workers.
“To hit this milestone – 10 million meals – is simply remarkable,” said Gary LeBlanc, Founder of Mercy Chefs. “This past year has been devastating for so many people, and we feel blessed to have been able to play a small role in bringing people comfort through food. We could not have gotten here without our incredible staff, volunteers, donors and partners answering the call to serve others.”
The organization said since mid-March they served 7 million meals in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They worked with food distributors and volunteers to serve the meals at the distribution locations that they set up for coronavirus crisis response.
Mercy Chefs not only provided meals but also helped supplement the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
In 2020, the group set up in several different areas to help in natural disasters, including Hurricanes Hanna and Laura, the derecho in Iowa and Alabama's latest tornado.
In addition to serving food to hospital workers on the front lines during the pandemic in Hampton Roads and Panama City, Florida, they went back to Panama City to serve the people who were still being affected by Hurricane Michael.
In the past 14 years, Mercy Chefs has provided meals to individuals in 27 states and 10 countries. This was in response to over 134 natural disasters and they've had support from 10,000 community volunteers throughout the years.
Mercy Chefs was founded in 2006 when Hurricane Katrina occurred and helped with the aftermath. They were serving restaurant-quality meals to the victims and first responders.
You can visit the Mercy Chefs website or Facebook page, to support the cause in its current relief efforts.
