ROLLING FORK, Miss. – Teams from Portsmouth-based Mercy Chefs are in Mississippi helping residents after tornadoes ripped through the area Friday night.
Mercy Chefs reports that starting March 27, they will be serving hot lunch and dinner every day, as long as needed. They’re in the town of Rolling Fork, about 85 miles northwest of Jackson. The non-profit organization plans to serve thousands of meals each day and says it will increase meal counts as needed.
Mercy Chefs said it brought a mobile kitchen, refrigerated truck, and support vehicles to Mississippi. In addition to meal service at a local high school, Mercy Chefs says its team members will deliver meals to impacted individuals throughout the area.
“Please join us in keeping this precious small town and all those affected in the tornado’s very wide track in your prayers,” said Gary LeBlanc, founder and CEO of Mercy Chefs. “The Rolling Fork community is suffering, and Mercy Chefs will be here to offer meals, hope, and support.”
"It's just heartbreaking hearing their stories on how they’ve lost everything in a matter of minutes," Joel Cauley, director of Church Partnerships for Mercy Chefs, told News 3 reporter Angela Bohon. "A lot of the locals that are not recovering, they’re actually on their own ATVs going all throughout the community helping us deliver the meals. It’s just amazing to see how grateful they are and then also how willing there are to help even in their own time of loss."
On Monday, the organization posted on social media that it could use more volunteers in Mississippi. For information on the organization or how you can donate to Mercy Chefs, click here.
Meanwhile, Operation Blessing, based in Virginia Beach, wrote in a press release:
In response to a massive tornado that struck western Mississippi on Friday night, Operation Blessing has deployed leaders from its U.S. Disaster Relief team along with an initial truckload of emergency relief supplies. The Operation Blessing team arrived in Mississippi and conducted damage assessments in the towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City over the weekend and will tour the town of Armory today. Once the assessments are concluded, team leaders will plan the best response.
Additionally, Operation Blessing deployed a trailer truckload of emergency relief supplies containing thousands of pounds of bottled water, emergency disaster relief kits and emergency meals, to a partner organization, Bethel Church (800 Tschudi Rd., Amory, MS). The truck is expected to arrive today or tomorrow.
American Red Cross says four volunteers from Virginia are joining national efforts and not just providing essentials, but emotional support.
"We have volunteers who are counselors. We have volunteers who are pastors and reverends who will go down and be present at some of our emergency shelters," explained Jonathan McNamara, Communications Director for Red Cross of Virginia. "They’re there to simply listen to people, help them try to navigate them through what may be one of the most traumatic times in their lives, :13 and what I’ve seen from my deployments with the Red Cross, is when they have an opportunity to talk with these highly-trained individuals, we see a reduction in stress. We see a reduction in anxiety, and that is critical as you’re helping somebody make it through one of the more trying times of their lives."
Representatives from these organizations say they expect to help for several weeks and will continue assessing needs.
