Gary LeBlanc of Mercy Chefs is in Asheville, North Carolina, where they're planning to host a Thanksgiving dinner to provide relief and comfort for the victims of Hurricane Helene this holiday season.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00this holiday season. Mercy Chefs is still on hand to bring meals and provide relief.
00:05Gary LeBlanc is founder and CEO of Mercy Chefs. Thank you so much for joining us here today,
00:12Gary. You've just returned from the Asheville to return to the Asheville area. How are folks doing
00:18and what it's like on the ground there? Folks are still just working through an incredibly
00:25damaging storm. You know it's just been three or four days that they had potable water here
00:31in Asheville and last night was the first snow of the year. So many folks, some in tents,
00:38are waking up to snow this morning still trying to put their lives back together.
00:44That's pretty interesting. Some are living in tents and of course they're dealing with snow.
00:48Now Mercy Chefs is planning a big Thanksgiving dinner event. Can you tell us a little bit about
00:52that? Well we're going to be up in Burnsville and we're going to be serving there. We're going
00:57to be sending out to all the communities around there as well. But we think folks, besides what
01:03we're feeding daily, the people in need on Thanksgiving need a little reminder that they've
01:08not been forgotten, that the country is still standing with them and that even in this terrible
01:14situation there are things to celebrate. So we'll be there with a full Thanksgiving spread, turkey
01:20and dressing, sweet potatoes and beautiful profound pumpkin pies for dessert. So Mercy
01:27Chefs will be there doing everything we can. And what do you see as the greatest needs in the
01:33months ahead there? I'll just be very honest. I think the greatest need is to do what y'all are
01:41doing right now to keep this in front of the rest of the country. People here have not recovered.
01:47They have not gotten over this. They're still in the middle of a disaster right now.
01:52The greatest need is to keep the people of Western North Carolina, Tennessee,
01:56even down into Georgia and parts of Virginia at the forefront. This is going to be a very
02:03desperate holiday season for these people that have lost everything.
02:10Now you are obviously doing a lot of great work there. How can people help your mission?
02:15People that want to get involved with Mercy Chefs can go to our website.
02:19They can follow us real time on Facebook, but on our website they have links where they can donate,
02:25where they can volunteer, where they can find out where we're serving. So mercychefs.com and
02:31it's going to take everybody in the country helping out. Gary LeBlanc, founder and CEO of Mercy Chefs.
02:39Thanks for joining us. And again, Gary, thank you for everything
02:43that you and your organization is doing. And we wish you a happy, happy Thanksgiving.
02:51To you and your families as well.