Palm Beach Post Reporter Rides Along with Co-Founder Ann LeBlanc

CEDAR KEY, Fla. – Two days after Hurricane Helene battered cities along the coastline in Florida, Mercy Chefs delivered hot meals to hard-hit Cedar Key.

The meals were prepared in Newberry then driven to First Baptist Church of Cedar Key. A few were hand-delivered to residents by Mercy Chefs Co-Founder, Ann LeBlanc.

Palm Beach Post Reporter, Ann Geggis, hopped in the Mercy Chefs Land Rover and came along to deliver meals with Ann and Mercy Chefs team members.

One woman we met, Sonya, gave Ann a tour of her home and showed her some of the damage Helene left behind. She then sat down to eat one of our meals.

If you’d like to read the full story, which was also shared by USA Today, click here.

ABOUT MERCY CHEFS  

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 across the country and around the globe. Since its founding, Mercy Chefs has served more than 38 million meals. In 2025, Good Morning America held a live broadcast from Mercy Chefs’ headquarters as part of its “50 States in 50 Weeks” coverage. Mercy Chefs has also been featured in news outlets such as CNN, Fox News, NBC News, PBS, and Southern Living. For more information, visit mercychefs.com.