Mercy Chefs heads to western North Carolina with meals for thousands

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — One meal at a time, that’s how Mercy Chefs is looking to help those affected in Buncombe County and other hard-hit areas by Hurricane Helene

Ann LeBlanc, the founder of Mercy Chefs, and Wanda Agosto, Latin American Outreach Director for the organization arrived, yesterday.

“The roads are truly wiped away,” said LeBlanc, “These communities are truly stranded.”

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That’s why they emphasized that their efforts are so necessary for this community.

“We know that this transforms and gives hope and that’s what we want to bring to our community of Asheville,” Agosto told us. “We want the people to know that they are loved.”

Mercy Chefs is working with communities in Marshall and Hendersonville to set up permanent distribution centers for their meals. The organization currently distributes around 10,000 plates of food a day, but LeBlanc says their goal is to reach 20,000 plates of food per day.

Mercy Chefs says that because of the widespread devastation, their stay in the North Carolina mountains could extend for several months. They hope the transformative power of food can help the community feel cared for.

Although their efforts are now focused on Asheville, they say they will continue to provide their services in Florida, where Helene first made landfall.

Mercy Chefs is asking the victims who need assistance to be on the lookout for information regarding their meal distribution on their social media pages as their distribution centers will be mobile.

If you are interested in donating hot food to the victims, click this link for more information.

(VIDEO: ‘Wiped out’: Hundreds left homeless after historic flooding in Asheville)