PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Portsmouth based Mercy Chefs made their way back to the Gulf Coast, this time helping out in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi after recent Hurricane Zeta left many with nothing.
“Boats washed up across Highway 90 up in front yards of homes, across from the Bay. Roads covered in sand that washed in, piers snapped in half,” said Founder Gary LeBlanc.
LeBlanc says they’re serving restaurant-quality meals to those who are hungry. He says he was actually in this area 15 years ago helping people after Hurricane Katrina.
“These folks have a lot of scars, emotional and physically and architecturally in their city, and so we’re seeing some of the same people we served 15 years ago,” he said.
Mercy Chefs was most recently in Lake Charles where they did two separate deployments to the area after Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
He says with all of the storms that hit the gulf this year, they are stretched thin.
“Our team is tired, our equipment is battered and bruised, and our finances have been stretched to the very limit,” said LeBlanc.
LeBlanc says they’re also working on a long-term community kitchen that will stay in Lake Charles as they rebuild.
If you would like to donate to Mercy Chefs mission, visit mercychefs.com.
