PORTSMOUTH, Va.— Local volunteers are reaching out to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Puerto Rico. News 3 spoke with Mercy Chefs, an organization based in Portsmouth that's helping storm survivors.
After Hurricane Fiona brought widespread damage and power outages to Puerto Rico, Mercy Chefs is stepping up to provide hot meals, clean water, and support.
"We're seeing the people were working with have 4 feet of mud and water in their houses. It's just heartbreaking," Gary LeBlanc, Founder/CEO of Mercy Chefs.
LeBlanc describes what he's seeing in Puerto Rico this time around. Mercy Chefs also responded after Hurricane Maria back in 2017. LeBlanc tells News 3 that he thinks many people are more fortunate this time, but there's still much of the island without power.
"To see them knocked down once again just makes me so sad. We want to make sure that we give folks what they need to be able to reestablish normalcy in their lives," said LeBlanc.
Starting with serving hot meals and bottled water, organizers said they also brought mobile water cleaning units. In fact, each unit produces 300 gallons of clean water per hour to address the urgent need for drinkable water due to the hurricane.
"We're buying everything that we need here in Puerto Rico and we're hiring locals. We're trying to put as much money back into the economy here as we possibly can, even through the relief work," said LeBlanc.
With their boots-on-the-ground efforts the organization says they plan to be in Puerto Rico for at least two weeks, and even though they are thousands of miles away Mercy Chefs is sending a message to us here in Hampton Roads.
"People in Puerto Rico will say please don't forget us. It's the one thing they want here to know there being remembered and thought of around the rest of the United States," said LeBlanc.
For information on how you can help, you can visit the website of Mercy Chefs.
