PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Mercy Chefs, Portsmouth-based disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization has returned to Lake Charles Louisiana for a second time this year. They were in the area a few weeks back to help after Hurricane Laura, and are now helping after Hurricane Delta.
“Mercy Chefs has been just run almost nonstop since the first of the year,” said President and Founder of Mercy Chefs, Gary LeBlanc.
Just last month, 10 On Your Side spoke with LeBlanc as they were helping feed those in Lake Charles Louisiana and Pensacola. They set up this weekend, in the same place as when they came into town for Laura, Life United Church.
“Everybody is just reeling. I can’t imagine being hit by two storms in one year and even though this storm wasn’t as bad as Laura, Delta still flooded places that weren’t flooded from before,” said LeBlanc.
He says they pre-staged just outside of the track of Hurricane Delta, so they could help as soon as possible.
“So as the storm passed through Friday night, Saturday morning we began rolling in,” he said.
He says they’ll hand out chef-prepared meals to the community from noon to 6 p.m. daily.
“We’re going to make sure we provide that hope and comfort that they need right now,” he said.
He says they’ll do this until they see the need diminish.
In an update Friday, Oct. 16, Mercy Chefs said they were still serving 7,000-plus meals per day in Lake Charles at multiple distribution sites — and the “lines are still long.”
If you want to volunteer or donate to their mission mercychefs.com.