Mercy Chefs refrigerated rental truck breaks down in Houston, $70K loss of meat
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Portsmouth-based non-profit Mercy Chefs is pleading for donations Thursday after one of its refrigerated rental trucks broke down in Houston, where it has been serving people who were impacted by severe storms there, and where they are now dealing with extreme heat.
The trucks were packed with about $70,000 worth of fresh food and protein, and it was all lost when the truck went down.
Mercy Chefs said its team had already prepared pulled pork for more than 7,000 meals, along with hundreds of pounds of ground beef for 600 hamburger patties and large quantities of Italian sausage and cheddar cheese. All of that was inside the truck when it went down.
“The heat and the humidity wreaks havoc on the refrigerated trucks,” said Mercy Chefs co-founder Ann LeBlanc, “and we left site about actually 11 p.m. Tuesday night and got to site Wednesday morning at 5 a.m., and the temperature on the food on the truck had already gotten to 66 degrees, so if you can imagine, it was fully functioning and then we lost everything.”
LeBlanc said the same thing happened to them when they were in Houston following Hurricane Harvey. She said their biggest concern is food safety when they’re working to prepare fresh meals.
“There was nothing we could do except throw it out,” LeBlanc said, “and so that was a big blow.”
She said groups such as grocery chain HEB and a local produce distributor have been helping them out by providing meat and fresh food.
“The word got out and people are are stepping up to help,” LeBlanc said, “so we’re going to keep on going here until the power back, but it’s really, really bad. It’s over 100-degree heat index here, and so they’re just boiling in their apartments.”
Mercy Chefs plans to serve 10K in Houston Monday
Thousands of people are still without power in Houston following deadly storms there, and Leblanc said the nursing home residents they’re serving were actually happy to receive a cold meal instead since it was so hot outside.
“They just really wanted something cold,” LeBlanc said. “They said the hot meal was great, but then they said after they had that nourishment last night, is there any way you can bring a salad? And so we stepped up for those elderly folks and got them salad and fresh fruit today.”
But she said despite the high temperatures, their team is still working to feed body and soul, one person at a time.
“The temperatures in that kitchen are close to 120 degrees, so prayer support is really important to … keep them sustained and keep them going,” LeBlanc said, “but they just embrace the mission of what we’re doing and they they just so love people here.”
LeBlanc said the people they’ve been able to meet along the way are so resilient. She talked about some of the mothers she’s been able to serve, who’ve been brought to tears.
“I literally had given a meal to a woman last night,” LeBlanc said, “and she just began to sob and she couldn’t stop crying.”
In addition to their normal lunch and dinner distribution, they’re also feeding students. On Thursday they served about 3,000 students in an area outside of Houston. They also plan to do weekend meal bags for the kids.
“They’re in the free-and-reduced lunch program, and … 100% of the kids here are in that environment,” LeBlanc said, “so we’ve been able to come in alongside with school system to provide meals.”
The team is asking for donations of money to help replace the food that was lost. If you’d like to help with their mission, click here.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
