Mercy Chefs, a Virginia-based disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization that serves chef-prepared meals in national emergencies and natural disasters, is responding to the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquake.
Carl Ladd, vice president of Mercy Chefs Global, and other Mercy Chefs team members are en route to Turkey today to connect with local partners and determine where Mercy Chefs can be of the most help in its response. Mercy Chefs already has started supporting relief efforts on the ground financially by directing funds to partners in the area.
“We are grieving over this massive loss of life,” said Gary LeBlanc, founder of Mercy Chefs. “We’re praying for protection for the first responders, officials, our partners and all of the people tragically affected by this earthquake. We don’t yet know what our response will look like, but we do know that we have the resources to help.”
Ladd recently joined Mercy Chefs to assist in launching the nonprofit’s global outreach effort, Mercy Chefs Global. Ladd came to Mercy Chefs from Bethel Global Response, where he served as director. While Mercy Chefs has been responding to international disasters since 2010. Mercy Chefs Global formalizes the organization’s mission to serve across the world.
Mercy Chefs has served more than 24 million meals since its founding in 2006 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when LeBlanc went to New Orleans to volunteer and realized disaster relief could be done better.
To support Mercy Chefs in its current relief efforts, visit https://mercychefs.com/earthquake-relief/. Follow Mercy Chefs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for updates on relief efforts.
Mercy Chefs is a 501c3 founded in 2006 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The organization exists to provide professionally prepared, restaurant-quality meals to victims, volunteers and first responders in natural disasters and national emergencies and partners with existing ministries with food service in underserved communities around the country. Since its founding, Mercy Chefs has served over 24 million meals. In 2020, Mercy Chefs founder Gary LeBlanc was recognized by Southern Living Magazine as a “Hometown Hero,” and Mercy Chefs was named the 2020 Small Business of the Year in the nonprofit category by Inside Business and the Hampton Roads Chamber. In 2015, it received both the Virginia Governor’s Volunteerism Award and the Hampton Roads Volunteer Achievement Award for its service. For more information, visit MercyChefs.com.