We face a great challenge in Honduras. This week our team has been on the ground visiting hard-hit communities and providing food and other essentials to the people there. But everywhere we turn, the need only seems to grow.
We started out soon after the first hurricane hit by providing food and drinking water. But as days have turned into weeks and now months, the needs have only grown. For example, many are still living in tents, often sleeping on the ground which in many areas is still mud from the initial flooding and ongoing rains. So our partners started providing sleeping mats.
Many still urgently need basic essentials -- especially shoes. This precious little girl came to one of our distributions earlier this week with no shoes on her feet. She had trudged through mud and rough terrain barefoot to get to the church we were serving from. We were able to send her home with shoes along with other much-needed supplies for her family. The smile on her face serves as a reminder of how impactful every act of kindness can be, especially in the midst of disaster.
These stories are being repeated again and again. Our team visited one community in which more than 700 homes were flooded. A family of four (pictured below) shared their horrifying story of spending 22 hours huddled on a bridge during the peak of the hurricane, praying for God to save them as their community was swept away. The family lost everything including the husband's job at the banana farm because the hurricanes destroyed all the crops. We were able to feed the family.
In reality, our relief work in Honduras is just beginning. 
Mercy Chefs is continuing to partner with local churches to provide the Survival Packs that can feed a family of four for five days along with shoes, school supplies and other essentials.
Your gift today of just $30 can help feed THREE families of four for five days; $50 can give hope to FIVE FAMILIES THIS WEEK; $100 will support TEN FAMILIES in their time of crisis.
Just as important, I must move our relief efforts to the next phase as soon as possible so we can support sustainable, long-term help. Our first priority will be equipping a kitchen that can serve as a hub of relief as well as provide critical job training skills to the community. This is the model Mercy Chefs created in Haiti a decade ago after a massive earthquake killed thousands in that country. The kitchen we equipped in Haiti quickly became one of the key epicenters of recovery for an entire community. We need to do the same in the communities we are serving in Honduras.
But right now, I must commit the necessary resources to help sustain the immediate lifeline of food, water, clothing and other essentials for those who are still reeling from the storms.
Thanks in advance for your help, and for your prayers.
God bless,
Gary LeBlanc, Mercy Chefs
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