Last night, I heard from Gary LeBlanc of Mercy Chefs -- Grassfire's disaster relief partner. Gary and his team has deployed to the Pensacola, Florida, area which just received 30 inches of rain and CAT-2 hurricane winds.

Mercy Chefs is serving hot meals to hurricane victims TODAY and all weekend, and they need our help. I'm hoping the Grassfire team can sponsor at least 2,000 meals this weekend.

Your tax-deductible gift of $50 will help sponsor 20 meals; $100 will help put a hot meal in the hands of 40 hurricane victims. Go here to make a tax-deductible gift to help Hurricane Sally victims, and see below for more details from Gary.

Steve Elliott, Grassfire

P.S. My family is sponsoring 40 meals today. Would you consider matching or even exceeding that? Every gift will help. Perhaps you can sponsor 12 meals ($30), or 20 meals ($50). Go here:

From: Gary LeBlanc, Mercy Chefs
Subject: Fwd: Hurricane Sally "historic and catastrophic"
To:  Steve Elliott

Steve,

Hurricane Sally came ashore with a powerful punch of both winds and what the National Hurricane Center is calling "historic and catastrophic flooding."

Pensacola, Florida, received 30 inches of rain -- that's the equivalent of FOUR MONTHS of rain in a span of about four hours. Much of this area was under water, with streets flowing like rivers at the height of the storm, many road closures and bridges out. 

That means there are entire communities that have been stranded. We just heard of a retirement community that was flooded but the residents are still there. They were told that no help will arrive until MONDAY! Of course, Mercy Chefs will be there this weekend to lend assistance.

Another HUD housing location faced massive flooding but was not evacuated. The residents are still there and need help. Much of this area did not evacuate because officials and forecasters thought Sally was downgrading to a tropical storm and heading far west of here. Then, it strengthened significantly overnight and made a sharp turn east before folks could flee. Then, the storm hit with high winds and more than two feet of rain.

+ + Meals TOMORROW! NEED HELP...

The good news is, we'll be serving our first meals TOMORROW and meeting critical needs all weekend. Now, I need your help.

Our resources have been stretched to the max by back-to-back disaster deployments before we serve our first meal here. I'm asking every Mercy Chefs friend to help SHARE THE LOAD so we can meet this need. Please ask the Lord how many meals you can sponsor -- 10, 25, 50, 100 or more. Then, go here to make your tax-deductible gift directly to Mercy Chefs to help provide hot meals to Hurricane Sally victims:

+ + The need here is great

As I noted, many did NOT evacuate. Plus, many of these communities were already facing economic challenges BEFORE the COVID crisis and BEFORE this storm hit. Plus, some of the traditional relief support simply has not arrived yet, and may not come.

Already, our Mercy Chefs team has faced many unexpected challenges (even more than we typically face during a disaster deployment). But now we are in the PERFECT LOCATION to reach the most people. We already have FIVE CHURCHES partnering with us to distribute meals. Plus, we'll be setting up a second kitchen just west of Pensacola in Orange Beach -- a coastal community that felt the full brunt of the storm.

The next 48 hours are critical. Thanks in advance for your prayers and your financial support!

God bless

Gary LeBlanc, Mercy Chefs

Photos: facebook.com/joshua.montuori