As the festive holiday lights twinkle, we often forget the darkness lingering in the shadows of disaster-stricken areas. In this episode, Mercy Chefs' CoFounders, Gary and Ann LeBlanc, share the impactful stories behind our dedicated service across the country and around the globe. From the tornado-touched landscapes of Mississippi and Tennessee to the earthquake-ravaged streets of Turkey and Syria, we walk you through a year of feeding body and soul. We are not just recounting the delivery of over 25 million meals but celebrating the resilience of the human spirit and the comfort of a hot, nutritious meal. As we wrap up this year, we hope to leave a sense of hope and peace. This episode is a testament to the power of community and the unyielding mission to "just go feed people."
As the festive holiday lights twinkle, we often forget the darkness lingering in the shadows of disaster-stricken areas. In this episode, Mercy Chefs' CoFounders, Gary and Ann LeBlanc, share the impactful stories behind our dedicated service across the country and around the globe. From the tornado-touched landscapes of Mississippi and Tennessee to the earthquake-ravaged streets of Turkey and Syria, we walk you through a year of feeding body and soul. We are not just recounting the delivery of over 25 million meals but celebrating the resilience of the human spirit and the comfort of a hot, nutritious meal. As we wrap up this year, we hope to leave a sense of hope and peace. This episode is a testament to the power of community and the unyielding mission to "just go feed people."
Hello and welcome to the Mercy Chefs. Hey Buddy podcast, I'm your host, nick Beckman, joined by our esteemed founders today. And, gary, welcome. It's great to have you guys so good to be with you.
Speaker 3:It's always good to be with you.
Speaker 2:Great. Well, we figured we'd sit down for a little bit here today, after a long year, 12 long months of a lot of work, and try and do a little recap. We're going to try and keep this. I'm not going to say brief because I want you guys to share stories, but we need to clip along because we did a lot of stuff this year. So let's start with our domestic deployments.
Speaker 2:This year our teams across the country went on eight domestic deployments. A quick rundown of those Eastern Kentucky we were there in January reconnecting with communities we had connected with in the past. That was a lot of fun. It was cold but it was such a great deployment for our team. I remember that one fondly. There was a tornado in Virginia Beach. We went to Moss Point, mississippi, rolling Fork, mississippi. Perryton, texas, live Oak, florida, we were on the island of Maui and most recently in Clarksville, tennessee. So there's a lot there. There's a lot of meals encapsulated there, there's a lot of people touch encapsulated in those, and I know we'll get to even more touches when we start talking about global. But just in those eight domestic deployments I want to pick your guys' brains about stories you remember and things specifically you remember. So, gary, let's start with you and let's start back a little bit in the year. Do you remember anything specifically, anything that stuck out about your time either in Moss Point or Rolling Fork, mississippi?
Speaker 1:Yeah, those were both surprises for us. You just don't expect the tornadoes in those areas and it was so complete in Moss Point to damage it was a small town and the whole town was affected. In Perryton it was just the that Perryton's out in the middle of nowhere in North Texas and it just I mean it was heartbreaking there. I mean the church supported a food bank in downtown and the food bank was blown up. It was completely gone and we were trying to hand out some groceries there in addition to the hot meals that we were doing, and actually found out one of the people from the church had been in the food bank when the tornado hit and there had been the fatality there. And it's just always very sobering when you have that in the moment, immediate remembrance of you know lives were taken by these storms and the emptiness that was left. They didn't know that if they were going to rebuild the food bank or not, just because that lady's memory would always, always linger over it.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely, and tornadoes are an interesting type of storm, if interesting is even an appropriate word. Let's come more recently and if you remember driving into Clarksville I know it's always a little jarring, at least for me, and I wonder if it is for you to drive into a place and say you're passing Nashville, bustling kind of urban environment full of life and people untouched by disaster, and you get an hour up the road into Clarksville, tennessee, and it's an entirely different story.
Speaker 3:Well, actually right outside of Nashville they had also been hit. There were three of the fatalities that took place in Madison, tennessee, which is just north of Nashville, and so they were impacted. But then we drive into Clarksville and it was, I think they said, 700 residents, over 700 residences had been impacted. But the degree of there's just nothing like standing in a house in front of a house where the tree is broken, the roof, it's completely off its foundation and there's just utter devastation everywhere. And that's when there's the house is left. It's a completely different story when there's just no trace and it's just splinters on the ground, and it's always particularly difficult for that kind of disaster to take place.
Speaker 3:It's never easy, but at the holidays and Christmas you know, I know one of the victims that we worked with. She was worried, that was her big worry. You know her entire roof is off her house and her family survived miraculously in a bathroom, even though the ceiling I mean they could see the sky from where they ended. But her word, she said I kept worrying about the tree and all the Christmas presents, and that's what was untouched and so, but that wasn't the case with every home and the loss of life at the holidays.
Speaker 3:There's just nothing. There's nothing that can replace that loved one that's gone. And I know we were walking through there was there were three houses in a row that there were casualties, and I know One of our guys was delivering a meal there and the, the grandfather Was in front of the house and they declined fit. They said we just can't eat, we're devastated. My grandson is gone, nine-year-old boy, and it's just, it's heartbreaking. I'm just glad we're able to bring a little hope in the midst of it with a warm meal and I'm always astounded at how appreciative people are for just someone loving and caring enough to put a beautiful meal together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, it's such an honor it's. It's so great that we get to go and do that in in all types of disasters. We had one kind of standout, different type this year. Obviously, we went to Maui in response to the West Maui wildfires. We've talked a lot about that on the podcast. I did a whole episode on it. So, folks, if you're interested in hearing kind of a more insightful and quiet meditation on that, I'd encourage you to go listen to that episode. But, chef Kerry, I want to pick your brain a little bit on. On Maui and Literally on an island. That's a great figure of speech for a lot of the things that we do. But when you're literally on an island, I wonder your thoughts on how that changed our efforts there.
Speaker 1:Well, the the wildfire in Lahaina. I remember the first call we got about it and they were like, whatever you seen on TV, whatever you've heard in the news, it's a hundred times worse. Please come now and To get there and work with the folks that have I mean families that as they were trying to get in the car Run from the fire, half the family went one way and the other half went the other way and then they didn't. They couldn't find each other for three days to be there. When that reunion took place, it was was just something else. I mean, fire is Total there. That's just totally.
Speaker 1:You know you hear the term burn to ashes. You don't understand that until you look at a whole city and it's literally just ashes on the ground, like the bottom of your fireplace At home. There there's nothing left. There might be a chimney out, there might be a piece of plumbing up, but everything is gone and the whole full toll of Lahaina Will not be felt for a long time. I mean the environmental issues that are left there, just just the whole downtown, the whole beachfront, just gone. And so that's one of the reasons that Mercy chefs is there, was so touched by that and that we've made the commitment to build a community kitchen and and Use folks there in Lahaina to help serve each other in the years to come that it will take to find some some distance and peace from the storm.
Speaker 2:Yeah absolutely, and that's one specifically for me and, as I'm remembering it, I've never been to a disaster in which I knew the before. This one hit particularly hard because I had remembered what downtown Lahaina looked like and what Front Street looked like and the beachfront and All those little communities and all those people who lost everything. I had a picture of what it was before and seeing it after hit especially hard and we're so honored to be sticking around there and very excited for what's to come in Lahaina and and rebirth and Maui, and Maybe a fitting anecdote about the rebirth that comes from fire. You know, forests that burn Oftentimes come back even more beautiful and I'm very excited to watch and be a part of that In West Maui. So, as we look across an ocean that I would still call a domestic deployment, obviously, but we've crossed a lot of oceans this year, a very exciting Kind of step forward for Mercy chefs is is the launch of our global arm Building out that team and watching them go and flourish.
Speaker 2:I believe they did over 500,000 meals this year almost 680,000 meals almost 600,000 meals this year Internationally, everywhere but the US, and that's that's really, really exciting. I know you guys have had the opportunity to travel a little bit internationally this year and we tell us a little bit about what you saw in the aftermath of earthquakes in Turkey, in Syria.
Speaker 3:It was just, we had never worked at earthquake before, and so that was a first for us. Again, just utter devastation. We're buildings. I mean there would be. You would look at a building, think, well, that one's not so bad, and then you'd realize, oh wow, the first three floors are underground now and had completely collapsed. And that just had collapsed and there were people. They were all apartment buildings and there were people that had been in those apartments as the the buildings collapsed. But that was.
Speaker 3:It was so unique. Our partner, which you know there are miracles that happen every day when we're, when we're, we're doing what we do and the church partner. There was the only church network that had been approved as an official charity that could operate within and respond to disaster, and so we were able to set up five kitchens across the country and you know these are. You know that when we say kitchens, it's we. You know we have a prep table, we, there's these giant cauldrons that are making some kind of beautiful chicken and rice dish, and of course, we were cooking halal style and our chefs were able to come and train and work with the teens on the ground. But those kitchens operated throughout Ramadan and it was just amazing. But to be in that kind of a cultural environment where we don't believe the same things, it was very clear. They all knew it was the church that had come right. They knew that it was the church and our host Family. They had opened their, they had moved out of their home because it was collapsing, they had run for their lives and they ended up in their business and they allowed mercy chefs to set up in the parking lot and that's where the kitchens were with, in our, in our partnership with the church and the host woman.
Speaker 3:She was from the Philippines and she had her husband was Muslim and she she got aside with me and she shared with me that that her best friend had died. He was also Filipino and she said she was a Christian. And she said you know, I'm a Christian. And she began to whisper I'm a Christian, I can't tell anyone here, I, but I'm a Christian. And I said she said, and my friend was a Christian too. And I said is it comforting to know that she's in heaven?
Speaker 3:The woman said, oh yes, but you know, she shared with me pictures of her friend who had passed From the scene of her home collapsing on her and her two children, and we just I said can can I pray with you? So the doors that open are just unbelievable. And she said, oh, I would really love that. And all over, you know, we've made soup, we've got fresh bread that a bakery provided and and, and meat, and and Sustenance. They were surviving because of us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it was just humbling to be able to then pray with this woman who was a closet believer and I said you know, god has a great purpose for you and you know, keep that, hold on to your faith, don't lose faith in this situation that the devastation that's surrounding you and it's just. Those are the moments. And then just people, you don't. You know there's a complete language barrier. I had women just running up to me and hugging me and and thanking me, and one sweet woman brought me a she the only thing left at her house were the flowers, the spring flowers trying to poke through the ground, and she brought me a bouquet of flowers to thank me for sending our teams and for providing the equipment and Providing the food that was keeping them all Making some normalcy.
Speaker 3:Yeah in the midst devastation right.
Speaker 2:We've got a really cool opportunity this year in a couple places Turkey and Syria being the first of Showing that we really do love all and serve all. You know we may wear a cross on our chest and we're open and honest about our faith, but that doesn't preclude us from going and serving people who are in need, no matter their beliefs, and Finding those moments of prayer and contemplation with people over a shared meal all across the world is is really, really cool, and it's awesome when we get to go and be there in person when our teams Hit boots on the ground. But there are times and places across the world this year where our teams, our actual boots, have not been able to go, but where our reach has still extended. Kerry, would you share a couple of those with us? Well, I mean.
Speaker 1:The the work that we're doing in Sudan and Uganda. Right now in Greece, with the refugee crisis on the islands of Greece, serving Syrians and Somalians as they are escaping war and genocide and famine and floods and Just unspeakable things in their, their homelands. We're there. We're there with partners where we're continuing to expand what they're doing, giving them a built, the ability to continue to touch lives. We we look at the world food program, as they've had to cut resources 30% this year because of the cost of groceries and.
Speaker 1:You know, you, you cut your your milk supply For children in Africa 30%. That's going to increase the fatality rate, the mortality rate by that amount, and so we're trying to step into those Gaps to literally save lives we always talk about. You know, it's so comforting to have a meal and we're trying to bring you back to normalcy and some of these places we were. What we're able to do with nutrition and food, literally, is the difference between life and death. We have one pastor that we worked with there in Africa. He thanked us so much for our, our financial resources and sourcing food and product for him. He's like I haven't had to do a funeral in two weeks and we were like, oh well, you got away from the genocide and helped move your village. And he's like no.
Speaker 1:I did two to three funerals a week from kids that were dying of hunger and since you stepped in with us, I have not had to do a funeral, and it's just so sobering at that moment what we get to do and where we get to go, and and the gravity is so severe in those places that we're now finding globally.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and watching the teams and the pictures roll in, it's just incredible that the scope and the reach and the touch that we get to have with people all across the world in so many countries we served in over 15 countries this year, which is just incredible. It's so, so cool to watch the growth and expansion of what God is doing through Mercy chefs, both here domestically and abroad. Another great thing that we've been able to do this year is Stock people's pantries both immediately post disaster and then a couple weeks post disaster With our mercy chefs family grocery box program which and I know you have just such a really soft spot for and this has been your baby and you're pioneered this program and we've done over 5,000 of those boxes this year, which is just so, so cool to be able to one bring boxes with us and bless people immediately post disaster but then reconnect with them later on by restocking their pantry with these grocery boxes. Tell me the thought behind this and and kind of your vision for it.
Speaker 3:You know it was birthed during COVID. You know we were in partnership with organizations that were receiving the farmers to family Benefit of groceries and we actually had begun groceries Before that. But the financial, the government subsidizing that, in other words, what made the reach go even further? So that year it was hundreds of thousands of groceries that were distributed. But it's been great to continue that because it gives people such.
Speaker 3:They're not getting a hot meal out of a box from Mercy Chefs, they're taking their box of groceries home as if they would have been to the grocery store and they're cooking their family recipes and they're utilizing that food to feed their family in ways that everyone would want their family. You know, as we're here at Christmas and I think of all the traditions that we have and what we're gonna make on Christmas day, and you know it's mom's brunch and Christmas Eve dinner and all of the things, and the goal of those boxes is to give that dignity back to the moms and dads of these households that they can share their traditions and their recipes with their children and hopefully give dignity to that family. And so it's amazing we just keep looking to expand it further. I know we keep knocking on doors of food purveyors to see what kind of donated, because that just will expand the ability to reach families, and so that's a goal.
Speaker 3:Who can we have partner with us so that we are keeping the dignity for these families as much as possible? But right now Mercy Chefs is carrying that and our supporters around the country are helping make those grocery box happen and bringing dignity to families that. You know the season we're in and I know inflation numbers because certain sectors aren't having skyrocketing prices, but groceries are not that sector. Butter used to be, you know, $3 a pound and it's $7 a pound, and here at Christmas it's gone. It's their ridiculous levels of what's being charged mayonnaise eggs. I mean these are all things that we used to think of as affordable options and ways to feed family good protein out of a carton of eggs. Well, that carton is no longer $2. And so it's just. It's a struggle for families that were struggling before, and now we have extreme levels of struggle within American families and we do live in the most bountiful country in the world and our goal is to help support those families so that they're able to, so that children aren't going to bed hungry.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's the ultimate goal. There's no reason a child in America should go to bed hungry, and we hear the story after story after story of children that go to bed hungry. I mean, when you start talking about you know it's one in eight children in America go to bed hungry. In certain locations like Virginia it's one in five, and there's other places where it's one in four children go to bed hungry. That's epidemic, and so the grocery boxes are our way of trying to bridge that gap for those families.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and making their own recipes and having that sense of dignity is so great, especially around the holidays. I think it's also been really fun that our chefs have prepared recipe cards to go in there as well. Absolutely, which is a little bit of a wink and a kind of a suggestion from MercyChefs. Here's what we think would go great with this box of groceries. It's been really such a cool program.
Speaker 1:And then to have the ability to add proteins and vegetables and produce to those boxes. So it's not just, you know, not just. But I mean a box of groceries is a wonderful thing, but here at the holidays, boy, we've been moving some turkey. I know you got a big surprise delivery of turkey earlier this year, and we have made the very best of that.
Speaker 2:We've made the best of 10,000 pounds of frozen turkey. I assure you every drop of it has gone out into the communities that we've served this holiday season. Couple other really cool numbers that I've gotten to pull this year. As I sat and thought about this podcast, I said to myself you know, my job day to day at MercyChefs is kind of stewarding. You know, watching over the vehicles and the logistics of this organization.
Speaker 2:How many miles have our vehicles traveled on the roads this year? So I went back in my notes and I've got them all right here in front of me. Every deployment, everything I could think of that was deployment related how many miles it was from our storehouse in Tanner or from here in Virginia to that destination, roundtripped, and how many vehicles and trailers and things did we pull. And then it came out and it was less than I was expecting. But when you think about it, 65,000 miles, more than 65,000 miles, our vehicles have traveled over the roads throughout this country this year just for deployments. That's not counting our rental cars or personal vehicles or all these superfluous miles traveled that it takes to run this organization. Simply, the vehicles, the kitchen trailers and the smoker trailers and the bunk trailer and the shower trailer and all the trucks it takes to pull them. 65,000 miles over the roads.
Speaker 3:This year, Frigurated trucks and snow. I mean it's a massive.
Speaker 2:Cars and trucks and things that go Absolutely. And then I was speaking to our vice president of global here and he was kind to remind me that his team did over 60,000 miles just in Ukraine this year and that kind of you know, that kind of took me down a peg almost, but also just super cool to see how many miles and how much road travel we've done to get to the places and the people that are in need this year. And I'm wondering do you guys remember any specific stories from being on the road this year? Gary, do you have any thoughts of specifically being on the road on your way to disaster?
Speaker 1:Well, in the old days of Mercy Shelfs. I get to say that now it was always me doing the driving. I was always driving a truck. I mean, there wasn't the crew and the benefit that we have now of such a good big team. I had to drive everywhere and they quickly figured out that as we began to grow me driving cross country in a truck wasn't the greatest and best use of my time. So I got forbidden. But I was able to get in a truck a couple of times this year out of necessity, a little bit out of fun, and so I do. I do. I mean getting a big freight line or pulling the big mobile kitchen and let's honk the horn and go is always a fun thing to do.
Speaker 1:But then I mean, even in Clarksville, we were coming up from Florida and we stopped at the warehouse in Tanner and hooking up the diesel duly and getting one of the smokers ready to come out of the warehouse to catch up with the team that was out in front of me with the kitchen and everything else that we needed. That it was, like you know, back on the road again and they felt pretty good. You know, they felt pretty good, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It is fun to get you behind the vehicle every once in a while. We make sure and take pictures of that when it happens, you have to do it, man, you have to do it.
Speaker 2:Everybody's gotta pull their weight, and I know each of you have driven many, many miles for MercyChefs over the years and we're honored to have you continue to do it with us Another just really really great stat to look at and talk about and we talk about this often.
Speaker 2:Mercychefs exists on the backs of volunteers and there are so many people that come alongside us every year, deployment after deployment and through our community kitchens. All the time we have volunteers out with us and we couldn't do it without them. We had over 14,000 hours of volunteer work this year and we've seen that increase and grow as our team around that has done just such an incredible job, making our volunteer experience, I would argue, one of the best in the world. It's such a great time to come out with MercyChefs. Not only do you feel like you're making an impact, you're enabled to make a really great impact in your community, but it's enjoyable, it's fun, it's full of joy and laughter, and watching that teamwork is continues to be one of my favorite parts of working here at MercyChefs. But, Ann, I wonder if you remember something around volunteers this year, some story or some person that you met that really touched you or impacted you?
Speaker 3:I'm always amazed by the volunteers that come out in the midst of the disaster.
Speaker 2:Their own personal disaster.
Speaker 3:Their own personal disaster, they've lost their home and they just say you know, I could sit and cry in my house and wait for the adjuster or I can just do something that impacts my community. And it happens every deployment. It isn't isolated to owe this one time, but there's a story from nearly every deployment in Mercy Chef's history where volunteers step up because they want to help their community. I think one of the stories in Live Oak all the teachers we were based at the beginning in a school that was the school parking lot and all the teachers came out. I mean, whether their house was blown up or not, they were committed to the children in the community and they showed up. And the commitment to community neighbors, helping neighbors and Gary talks about it all the time.
Speaker 3:Mercy Chef just provides the tools and the food for big numbers. What we do isn't normal chefin. Most chefs don't know how to cook at 23,000 meals a day. It's an unusual thing that we do. But to have the neighbors come in and work alongside us and we hear often it's a machine. I can't believe what a well-oiled machine Mercy Chef's is and just how you make all of these meals come together and it seems so effortless. Now we know it's hard. I mean, our team is exhausted. At the end of the 12 or 13 or 14-hour day they're exhausted, but it's so gratifying when we're working shoulder to shoulder with members of the community. I lost my house, but I want to serve my neighbor.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And it's an honor.
Speaker 2:We just provide the infrastructure. We provide the place to be and some of the things that they might need the physical, tangible things but they volunteers and people of communities coming together and making an impact in their community. It's always just so great and it's great that we get to be the catalyst for that.
Speaker 1:And I agree that our volunteer program is something very, very special. I would encourage anybody that ever gets a chance to come out and volunteer with us on a disaster. Take that opportunity. We're dedicated to making our program the best in the world and we're seeing it replicated around the globe. We're taking what we've done here domestically with volunteers and seeing it work in Honduras. We saw it work in Israel and they want what we're doing with volunteers and it's so great to begin to give that away and see other people use it to such great advantage.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And now the number. Everybody has been waiting for a very exciting number. The one that we look at most often, I would say, is how many meals. This year we crossed a big milestone in the history of MercyChefs and that is officially surpassing 25 million meals in our history. And what an amazing and incredible honor. That was 1.2 million meals this year alone, and seeing that increase from even when I started with y'all a few years back, just watching the growth and the expansion, has been just such an honor. But what we always say and what we never forget is that it's all about the one, because each one of those is one person that was touched with a meal, one family that was blessed with a grocery box. And I'm wondering if you remember one meal this year, one plate of food, one person that you got to hand that plate of food to.
Speaker 3:You know, there's always a one at every disaster. One that impacted me the most was the woman in Turkey, and they're living in fear of another earthquake, and she just wanted her family to be safe and then she just you know her sharing well, I'm a Christian, but I can't tell anyone. Well, I'm honored, you told me, but it was just. I handed her a plate of food and her kids were being fed too, so we handed everybody, and then she just pulled me aside and shared that I think of. I know Chef Dustin shared a story with me of a volunteer in Eastern Kentucky. They had had a water crisis and we were providing water, but additionally hot meals and grocery boxes, and there was a food bank about an hour and a half away from our site that was running out of food and we were able to begin transporting food to them as well. But there was one little lady and she had been volunteering every day and we had bacon.
Speaker 3:We had those giant ten pound boxes of bacon and Chef Dustin had saved one for her when she came back because she had been very faithful every day. She came and he handed her the box. She began to weep and she said I'll share this with my neighbors too. And she lived in extreme poverty Eastern Kentucky there's tremendous poverty. She opened her little purse and she dug in her I mean, it's the widow's might story and she opened her little purse and tucked in this little corner pocket. She had a $100 bill and she pulled it out and she handed it to Dustin and he said no, no, no, you don't have you know. No, we want to bless you. She said don't rob me of the opportunity to do what God's telling me to do and giving you this money. And we just prayed over her and asked God just to multiply everything. You know this gift from the widow's might, that it would be multiplied. And you know, I think Dustin went and found chicken and I mean he ended up loading her car full of product.
Speaker 3:But you know, again, she was volunteering out of her own needs. She was volunteering and sharing with her community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and a few days later our dear friends at Smithfield sent in a tractor, trailer truck of product to help us with the giveaways and a big portion of that truck was bacon, and so we had more bacon at that point. And so that was one of the days in the drive-thru line we were giving out, you know, apples and onions and all those things and hot meals, but we were handing out these 10 pound boxes of bacon to everybody and they said that night the entire valley smelled like bacon and it was such a great place. I think for me, the one this year was it wasn't one plate, it was an event and it was for the little girl in La Jaina that said out loud. One of our staff overheard, this Saturday was going to be my 15th birthday and she was from Mexico and she said it's supposed to be my quinceanera and she started to weep and she says I won't have a party now, but if I could just have two or three of my friends in a cake it's the wrong thing to say around a Mercy chef team. We decorated a big tent, we laid out a giant buffet spread, we bought her a dress, we got the piece of jewelry for her father to give her and we threw a quinceanera that has never been thrown.
Speaker 1:One of the kitchens we were working with down there is at the plantation house. It's one of the 50 best restaurants in the world and their chefs heard what we were doing and they jumped on this forest as well and they came in. I mean, it was one of the nicest catered events that any little girl has ever had for her quinceanera and we surprised her that night. She had no idea and we had everybody there. I mean, it was such a big, beautiful crowd. It was our gift to her. And so if you want a big, big, big birthday party, whisper out loud around the Mercy chef. Oh, I don't have one this year and we'll make it happen.
Speaker 3:My house is burned to the ground and all the things were gone. But Mercy chef tried to fill that hole in our heart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. It was an amazing, amazing thing. If you've seen our social media, as I believe, we shared some pictures there about about that event and what a blessing that was to our team as well. I remember being on our team call afterwards and watching watching people cry about just the opportunity to bless someone in that way. And we love serving food, we love doing what we do and we work with a lot of really talented, amazing chefs. But when we get to step outside of that, bless people in other ways too, it's really, really fun and I love that about us, that we're always looking for that way to go the extra mile and to do the little extra thing. That may involve food, because obviously there was going to be food at the quinceanera but but it, it, it didn't have to be the way it was. We could have easily just bought a cake, but no, this team goes the extra mile and it really was so, so incredible.
Speaker 2:If you'll allow me, one of the plates that I remember was doing spam and rice in Maui, a product that a lot of folks here on the mainland would turn our noses up at. If I gave Chef Lisa a pallet of spam in Florida or in Texas she would. She would run for the hills and and and call my name the whole way. But watching this product that people really do love and I love it too. I think it's delicious for the record but watching this product that people there really really love and connect with, get cooked and make make a difference in people's lives was really really cool, because cuisines are important and and regional cuisines are very important and it's very, very cool to me that we get to step in and abide by those regional cuisines and bless people in their own way and the way that that they feel most blessed. And doing that for folks in Maui and watching them smile as they open the plate and saw that slice of spam was, was so much fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a couple of our chefs confessed that that spam fried rice is now a staple in their homes. Back here they they bought in pretty well to that.
Speaker 2:It's delicious folks. If you're looking for a great weeknight meal super easy, pretty cheap spam fried rice can recommend.
Speaker 3:That's probably one of the biggest challenges our team has had this year and they've all just embraced, you know, from serving halal in Turkey, kosher in Israel, kaluwa pig along with spam rice in Hawaii, and it's just one of the the goals is, wherever we are regionally, what is the cuisine, what is it they're going to enjoy?
Speaker 3:Um, and you know, I, I, I think of going to the Bahamas and figuring out different shrimp dishes and just think, and the same thing in Hawaii. I mean, we were, we were really digging deep, but when we went back at at the Thanksgiving holiday, what, what are they? You know, they don't, they don't eat a lot of Turkey on Thanksgiving in Hawaii, and just what are the things that you know? And just creating the menus that they were going to just be tickled over and enjoy. And, um, as I, that's one of our signatures that I really love. It sets us apart. We don't there are not a lot of groups out there that are really trying to make people feel that comfort food, that comfort from home, uh, familiar items that can bless them.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. It's been an incredible year. 2023 has has shown us the meaning of perseverance. It was our word for this year, and I think each and every one of us here at Mercy chefs has felt the call to persevere this year, and I'm very proud of the team, each and every one of them, um, as well as those folks that we've touched and have shown us the meaning of perseverance through trial and tribulation, through losing everything. We've seen a lot of perseverance this year. I'm excited for, for what's to come next year. Um, folks, stay tuned. There's a lot more from Mercy chefs. I can assure you that the Lord keeps calling, uh, he keeps asking more, and I hope that, um, we continue to be up the challenge, and I know that we will, because I know the team that we have around us and the leadership that is sitting here next to me, uh, is up to that task. So, chef Gary, and thank you very much for your time today, have a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Speaker 3:Absolutely happy new year until everyone listening. Merry Christmas and happy new year.
Speaker 2:Thanks, folks. Uh, stay tuned for more um for Mercy chefs, We'll talk to you again next year.