Saturday morning from Lake Charles

There's no other way to put this -- we need help in an urgent way this holiday weekend.

Every day, more hurricane victims here are relying on Mercy Chefs. We served 5,000 people JUST FOR LUNCH yesterday, and today through Monday we expect to serve even more people as folks who evacuated return to begin picking up the pieces of their lives.

+ + Power grid "complete rebuild"; two months!

I'm expecting we'll be at or near 10,000 meals just today, and again tomorrow. That's because the people here are very much still in crisis. The storm hit nine days ago, but Lake Charles and many surrounding communities still do not have power or drinkable water.
A power official said the entire system is a "complete rebuild" and some estimates are now saying it could be TWO MONTHS before power is fully restored.

Every day, the demand for meals increases. Plus, we're still the main lifeline of food for the entire Cameron Parish region -- "ground zero" of the hurricane strike.

But with the increasing demand, our costs are also increasing. Just the food costs are now running into the tens of thousands of dollars -- it's just expensive to serve thousands upon thousands of people every day. And we're expecting another tractor trailer truckload of food today. I will need to pay that bill.

+ + Can you help Mercy Chefs this weekend?

Can you partner with Mercy Chefs to help serve hot meals and hope to thousands of hurricane victims here in Lake Charles and in surrounding communities this weekend? We urgently need your support right now. Go here to make your tax-deductible gift directly to Mercy Chefs:

If you made a gift recently to help with our Hurricane Laura relief, THANK YOU SO MUCH! We are so grateful. If you can help again, we will put your gift to work right away preparing and serving meals for the people here.

If you haven't yet supported our Laura relief efforts, please do so today! We urgently need the help of every Mercy Chefs friend and partner to meet the growing need right now.

Finally, please pray for the people here. They are just over one week into what will be a massive recovery effort. Some are just returning to what is left of their homes for the first time this weekend. It is always a shock for folks who have evacuated to see the wreckage for themselves. Mercy Chefs hot meals can make a real difference for these folks at this crucial time.

God bless,

Gary LeBlanc

P.S. Here is yesterday's lunch. Delicious baked ziti, Italian broccoli, fresh green salad, cheesy bread and comforting fruit crisp. People weep when we hand them a hot, chef-prepared meal. Your faithful support is making a real difference right now. Thanks in advance for your help this weekend.