A few weeks ago, we realized that Mercy Chefs was nearing our two-millionth meal served. Quite frankly, the thought was a bit overwhelming for me. And quite humbling.
Consider just how large the number 2,000,000 is...
Two million meals could feed a family of four three meals a day for... 456 years!
Or it would provide dinner for every person in the average sized church in America (about 190 people) every day for... nearly 30 years!
What's mind boggling most of all to me is that I honestly never imagined that Mercy Chefs would have such an impact.
Mercy Chefs wasn't even a dream in my mind's eye when I volunteered to help in the relief effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on New Orleans. As a professional chef, I wanted to do more to help provide high-quality meals to folks whose lives had just been turned upside down by a natural disaster. I wanted every person I met to have a high-quality, chef-prepared, hot meal.
So I went home and launched Mercy Chefs. But quite honestly, "launched" is a bit overstated! I stepped out in faith and decided to do something with the resources I had to meet what I saw as an enormous need during a disaster response. And something amazing happened. When we brought together expert chefs with incredible volunteers who care deeply for the needs of people in crisis, the hot meals we served also brought hope and healing. And Mercy Chefs was born.
In those early days, I couldn't have imagined serving 100,000 meals, never mind 2,000,000 meals. What makes it even more special is the fact that we couldn't have done any of this without friends like you. Every meal has effectively been sponsored by a caring friend or ministry partner. Your gifts of $25, $50, $100, $500, or whatever the Lord leads, have made every outreach and every hot meal possible.
As you know, we are gearing up for the largest redeployment in our history as our team will be back in Florida for most of the month of March. The people of the Florida Panhandle are still reeling from Hurricane Michael. Thousands of homes still have tarps on their roofs and many folks are homeless and living in tents or out of their cars.
We're going back to help. And it seems fitting that we will quite possibly serve our two-millionth meal to a family still recovering from that hurricane or a volunteer who is donating time to help with cleanup or to rebuild a home.
Of course, we need your help. As of this week, we were about 23,000 meals shy of 2,000,000. I want to have as many of these meals as possible sponsored before we head back to Florida.
Again, I'm humbled by what the Lord has already done through the generosity of friends like you. And I believe the best is yet to come as we continue to use the powerful vehicle of a hot meal to "feed body and soul" for disaster victims, volunteers, and those in urgent need.
Thank you for partnering with us, and God bless you in advance for your help!
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