It's difficult to explain what hunger will do to a child...

Let me share two stories with you of people your support recently helped.

First, we met a single mom with four sons. Trying to raise four boys by herself on a very limited budget is a challenge in itself, but with two of her sons being autistic, this family faces a serious uphill battle.

This mom shared with us that she often was so overwhelmed, that all she could do was pull out some cold cereal for dinner. It temporarily filled their stomachs and she survived another crisis.

Then she joined one of our pilot programs at our Virginia Community Kitchen in which we give young moms practical training on how to cook real, nutritious meals on a budget. It's part of our Dinner in a SNAP program, and this pilot project brought this mom and a few others into our kitchen for hands-on instruction.

As part of the training, this mom got to take a meal home, which the boys immediately devoured.

Then she noticed something.

With a nutritious meal in their bodies, her four sons slept through the night... for the first time in weeks!

It may sound like a small thing, but it was a life-changing moment for this mom. And it once again demonstrated the power and the importance of the meals we serve.

You see, Mercy Chefs meals actually carry... HOPE! It's hard to explain, but the hope is tangible. It's real.

We saw it recently when Mercy Chefs started providing hot meals to some schoolchildren in a hurting community where, sadly, the kids often don't get breakfast at home and come to school with nothing to eat for lunch.

So we stepped in to meet the need and our team immediately noticed something that seemed quite odd...

The teachers were silent. They didn't say anything at all!

We thought perhaps something was wrong with the meals, only to find out later that the teachers were in shock at how transformative the meals were for the students! The behavior problems went away. The kids started paying attention in class. The entire classroom environment was transformed by Mercy Chefs' hot meals!

Here's where you come in...

In the coming week alone, Mercy Chefs will serve anywhere between 2,000-3,000 meals. I'm asking friends across the country to come alongside and partner with us this weekend for each of these meals... meals that are literally changing the atmosphere and infusing hope into difficult situations.

Perhaps you can help sponsor 20 meals (just $50), or even 40 ($100), 100 ($250), or more. Go here to make your tax-deductible gift to help provide hot meals this month:

I'm so grateful for your partnership and your faithfulness. Hardly a day goes by that we don't hear stories like these of lives impacted by Mercy Chefs meals, and in turn your generosity. Thank you so much.

God bless!

Gary LeBlanc, Mercy Chefs

P.S. Perhaps you would consider setting up a monthly, recurring gift and help us reach thousands of hurting people with hot and nutritious meals every month. Your monthly gift of just $30 will help us provide 12 hot meals... every month! Go here to set up a recurring gift:

For more on our Dinner in a SNAP program, go here. In this program, our chefs provide four weeks of quality meals that fit within the $1.40/serving budget of the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).