SURGE Summer '26
Celebrating 20 years of
Did you know grapes must be crushed three times in order to yield the best possible wine?
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I experienced three “crushings” that transformed me and led to the birth of Mercy Chefs.
My first crushing came the night I arrived at a high school football stadium in Biloxi, Mississippi. I pulled my rental car into the stadium where disaster workers gathered to rest before serving. I reclined my front seat, hoping to catch a few hours of sleep, only to be awakened by unmistakable cries of hopelessness. The haunting sounds were coming from the houses surrounding the stadium. I was wrecked. Right then, I knew I had to reach these people.
My second crushing came from my front-row seat to the relief tragedy of Katrina. Organizations I trusted failed to deliver real, meaningful help. Here’s one image I will never shake…seeing cans of cold green beans being dumped on a plate and handed over to hungry people. Night after night, the same thing. No seasoning, no heating, no preparation of any kind. There had to be a better way.
The third crushing brought me face to face with my greatest fear. It was my first opportunity to feed Katrina victims. We set our sights on 400 meals, which seemed insurmountable at the time. So we stretched, scrimped, and sweated through 440 meals. But there were forty more people left in line. We still fell short.
I couldn’t take it any longer. I ran out to the treeline nearby where no one could see me, and I screamed at the sky: “God, You have to make me taller. You have to make me stronger. You have to make me smarter. You can’t ever let me run out of food again!”
In my moment of desperation, God spoke gently to my soul. “I can make it rain bread. I can bring water from a rock. This is not about you. Gary, I can use you, but you have to let go of yourself.”
It was in these three “crushings” that I came to an end of myself, and Mercy Chefs was born. Soon thereafter, the Lord gave me a simple and clear calling that was not based on my ability, just my obedience:
Feed people. Just go feed people.
With no clear pathway to accomplish that mission, I simply said, “Yes, Lord!” And in June 2006, I packed the family up for our first-ever Mercy Chefs deployment to Conklin, New York. Twenty years and 38 million meals later, I’m still saying “Yes!”
Thanks to you, Mercy Chefs is setting the Lord’s table of hospitality across America and through 68 feeding initiatives on five continents! I hope you enjoy this special 20th Anniversary edition of SURGE!
God Bless,
Chef Gary LeBlanc
Founder and CEO
Here are a few highlights from more than 360 domestic disaster deployments in which Mercy Chefs has provided hot, chef-prepared meals to feed body and soul.
2006
CONKLIN, NEW YORK
FLOODING
For our first deployment, I packed up my kitchen knives, and the LeBlanc family drove from Virginia to New York to help families who faced devastating flooding. This was the first opportunity to prove that excellent food can be served safely and with love during a disaster.
2008
SUFFOLK, VIRGINIA
TORNADO
For the first time, we deployed our mobile kitchen in response to a tornado that left 20 miles of destruction in its wake. This was a “proof of performance” moment. Now, Mercy Chefs has a fleet of mobile kitchens and support vehicles ready to respond to disasters.
2013
MOORE, OKLAHOMA
TORNADO
After a monster EF-5 tornado with winds over 200 mph decimated this town in central Oklahoma, Mercy Chefs deployed the largest team we had ever assembled to date. I began to dream of the day when we could provide tens of thousands of meals daily during a disaster.
2017
BACK-TO-BACK
HURRICANES
From August to October, we deployed to four different locations: Rockport and Houston (Texas), Estero (Florida), and Puerto Rico. We were stretched to our limit, but our team showed up daily to love communities facing great difficulty.
2018
FLORIDA PANHANDLE
HURRICANE MICHAEL
This Category 5 storm caused an estimated $25 billion in damages and wrecked entire communities. Mercy Chefs served over 100,000 hot meals for the first time in a single deployment, and the need was so great we stayed—establishing our first Beacon of Hope Kitchen.
2022
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA
HURRICANE IAN
When Hurricane Ian tore through Florida, Mercy Chefs responded with our largest deployment to date. Our meal service in Fort Myers and the surrounding communities provided upwards of 420,000 hot, chefprepared meals.
2024
NORTH CAROLINA & FLORIDA
HURRICANE HELENE
Mercy Chefs deployed in two separate states to feed victims of Hurricane Helene, one of the most devastating storms to hit these regions. We served over 350,000 meals, and we continued to serve hurting families through our long-term Beacon of Hope outreach in Black Mountain, North Carolina, for over a year.
2025
KERRVILLE, TEXAS
FLOODING
In the summer of 2025, massive flooding created a nightmare scenario and a shocking loss of life in Texas. Mercy Chefs served nearly 120,000 meals to hurting families, and we stayed on the ground through our Beacon of Hope Kitchen.
Through more than 400 deployments and outreaches across America and Mercy Chefs Global’s feeding programs in 30 nations, you are helping to set the table for 400,000 people every month.
Touching hearts,
Our reward is seeing the faces of those we help: the family who didn’t know where their next meal would come from after losing their home to disaster; the child who hadn’t had a decent meal in days. People are overwhelmed with gratitude when they receive a chef-prepared, restaurant-quality meal on the worst day of their lives.
As Mercy Chefs has deployed to “just go feed people,” our outreaches have grown to meet the need. Here are a few highlights of how we’re expanding to feed even more people.
2010
OUR FIRST OVERSEES
DEPLOYMENT
Our first deployment outside of the U.S. came in response to the unimaginable destruction in Haiti after a 7.0 earthquake. That’s when I realized oceans and borders could not, and would not, restrain God’s call on my heart. Mercy Chefs Global now feeds hundreds of thousands of people every month.
2014
COMMUNITY VISION
LAUNCHES
A simple church sign advertising “free food nightly” made Ann LeBlanc realize our call to “just go feed people” should extend beyond disaster zones. So Mercy Chefs began providing food to local partners for summer feeding programs. This small seed would grow into our Community Kitchen initiative. Officially established in 2019, these kitchens have served over 1.7 million meals while providing practical life skills to young moms.
2018
BEACON OF HOPE
KITCHENS
As we responded to Hurricane Michael, which wreaked havoc on the Florida Panhandle, we realized the community needed a longer-term presence of hot meals from Mercy Chefs. So we established our first long-term recovery Beacon of Hope Kitchen. Now, these Beacon of Hope outreaches help decimated communities on their long road of recovery.
2020
FAMILY GROCERY
BOXES
In response to the COVID crisis which further intensified food insecurity, we launched our Family Grocery Box program. Each box is packed with enough essential ingredients to make 50 meals. This innovative program has delivered over 17 million meals to hurting families since its inception.
2023
THE MERCY CHEFS
STOREHOUSE
As our domestic disaster and hunger responses grew, we recognized the need for a central warehouse to store supplies and accelerate our response to the crisis. We established our Mercy Chefs Storehouse in Tanner, Alabama—within a 12-hour drive of the majority of our disaster responses.
2025
FEED THE FORCE
INITIATIVE
The government shutdown in 2025 forced already struggling military families to go without paychecks. America’s heroes deserve better. That’s why we launched our Feed the Force initiative—to bring relief to the hundreds of thousands of military families facing food insecurity. Feed the Force has already served half a million meals.
2026
MOBILE FIELD
KITCHENS
The logistical challenges of disaster deployments in developing countries means many of the hardest hit communities are beyond the reach of traditional humanitarian relief. So our team got to work creating custom-designed Mobile Field Kitchens. These specially equipped four-wheel drive kitchens can deploy across hundreds of miles and provide 7,500 meals per day in areas that may never have received any assistance.
38
MILLION MEALS SERVED
366
DOMESTIC DEPLOYMENTS
TO 35 STATES & TERRITORIES
51
NATIONS SERVED
68
ONGOING FEEDING INITIATIVES
IN 30 NATIONS WITH 45 PARTNERS
125
staff members
I can’t wait to see what God will do through Mercy Chefs in the coming years as we follow this simple call to “just go feed people.”
Will you partner with me to launch this next season as one of our Charter monthly Table Setter supporters?
Thank you for helping us set tables for the next 20 years.