RICHMOND, Va. -- A Virginia-based non-profit has deployed to help out with recovery efforts in Little Rock, Arkansas after it and several other states were hit by a string of deadly storms and tornadoes.
Mercy Chefs, a nonprofit that provides meals to victims of disasters and the first responders helping them, deployed on Saturday night and was in place serving meals by Sunday.
"We got out over 1,000 meals last night and then today we're going to do some were a little over 3,000," said founder and CEO Gary LeBland. "And we'll be ramping up to 5,000 meals a day over the next day or two as we identify more distribution sites."
LeBlanc said there is a team of about 50 to 60 volunteers set up in a church about a half-mile from where the tornado hit.
"It's just pretty incredible to see. It's just total devastation in that path," he added.
And while LeBlanc and this team are beginning their work in Little Rock, a similar setup has now been in place for over a week in Rolling Fork, Mississippi where a deadly tornado hit in late March and they expect to be there at least through Easter.
"Rolling Fork is just a very unique deployment in the sense of it's a small town, but the entire town was taken out," explained LeBlanc.
On top of that, LeBlanc said international teams are just returning from deployment after the earthquakes in Turkey and another is getting ready to go to Colombia to assist with aiding people in Venezuela (since the non-profit cannot deploy directly in that country, they are set up across the border and help volunteers that can), who are suffering from with an economic crisis.
"Although we're spread out pretty well, we have a great depth of experienced volunteers and chefs that are able to continue the work. We will go where we're needed and will stay as long as we need to," said LeBlanc, who added that regardless of where they are -- the mission remains the same.
"Something amazing happens over a shared meal and we're able to do that with people on what is probably the worst day of their life and just give them that moment over a beautifully handcrafted meal. Where they can find some hope, where they can contemplate their circumstance, where they can actually take a moment and see how they can begin the recovery and rebuilding of their lives."
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