CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A Hampton Roads nonprofit finds itself responding to multiple humanitarian crises right now.
Mercy Chefs serves chef prepared meals to victims and first responders following emergencies and natural disasters.
Just five weeks ago, the organization was in Nashville providing meals following a devastating tornado there. Shortly after, they began serving meals in Hampton Roads as the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Now, while still serving meals to those suffering during the coronavirus outbreak, the organization is back in Tennessee - this time providing meals to those impacted by a deadly tornado in Chattanooga.
"Of course the COVID started ramping up and then we finished in Nashville and started doing meals locally out of the community kitchen in Portsmouth and lo and behold, another tornado dropped here in Chattanooga. So, our team continues to work there in Portsmouth and we pulled another mobile team together to answer the call here in Chattanooga," Mercy Chefs founder Gary LeBlanc told News 3 anchor Todd Corillo from Tennessee.
In Tennessee, Mercy Chefs are serving meals from Venue Church in Chattanooga, using the church as a point of distribution to other affected areas.
LeBlanc says the damage is worse than he imagined.
“We were just in one of the neighborhoods meeting with local pastors and the devastation - it’s utter and complete," he said.
"It was a very wide tornado; it was on the ground for not an extraordinarily long time, but it was on the ground through a bunch of neighborhoods the entire time. So, a lot of folks here have had their homes lost. Power is out for 100,000 people; they are talking weeks in some locations before they’ll get power back. To have that happen on top of the 'stay at homes' and the quarantines is just unimaginable for these folks here."
At the same time, Mercy Chefs is continuing to provide approximately 15,000 meals a week in Virginia for those impacted by the coronavirus.
"We are running flat out. A lot of our staff is tired. I mean, five weeks ago we were in a tornado and we just went right into the coronavirus and so some of them have been working six days a week, 14-15 hour days, but we’ll keep going as long as we have to go."
