As I've been sharing with you, this Spring and Summer Mercy Chefs is helping launch four standalone kitchen projects that together will provide thousands of meals this summer and beyond. While these projects have been under way, we also were recently deployed in Ohio in response to the "swarm" of tornadoes that struck the Dayton area. It's been a busy several weeks!

I'm thrilled to report that our work in Texas with the Lonesome Dove Ranch is already making a difference this summer. Lonesome Dove is the home to an amazing ministry that is providing summer camps to disadvantaged foster children in Texas, many who have faced unspeakable difficulties in their young lives.

+ + Amazing encounters for hurting kids...

Lonesome Dove isn't an ordinary summer camp. Each weekly camp brings about 80 children to Lonesome Dove. The camps are kept intentionally small to allow for the most personal attention possible (there are two staff for every one camper!). The goal is to meet these kids at their point of the need and create an opportunity for an encounter with the God who loves them. Time and time again, amazing things happen. For example, each camp concludes with the children taking a rock and writing on it the worst thing that ever happened to them. They then place that stone at the foot of the cross -- an important step on the road to healing.

For years, Mercy Chefs has been bringing one of our mobile kitchens to Lonesome Dove to provide meals for the campers and staff. This year, we partnered with Lonesome Dove to finish a build out of a permanent kitchen that will allow the ministry to reach even more hurting children. That work is now complete, and our Chef Lisa filed this report on the amazing work your support is helping make possible:

This is an unprecedented time for Mercy Chefs. The reach of this ministry is expanding in ways beyond my imagination. For example, these four kitchens give Mercy Chefs the opportunity to provide thousands of meals every week -- equivalent to our team deploying for a major natural disaster. At the same time, we are still responding to disasters while we gear up for the upcoming hurricane season.

And everything we do depends on your financial support! If you share my heart for helping those in urgent need -- especially the children who are truly innocent victims caught in the crossfire of family and cultural currents beyond their control -- will you partner with Mercy Chefs by making a special gift today? Go here to make your tax-deductible gift: