Recently, Gary LeBlanc was a guest on a morning TV show to share the vision of Mercy Chefs and to offer his Hot Crab Dip recipe. (Photos courtesy of WTKR.)

Watch the segment here.

Ingredients and instructions:

I was just alerted to some shocking facts regarding Hurricane Michael...

And it explains in part why there is still such a persistent crisis all throughout the Florida Panhandle.

According to published reports, the major relief organizations received just a fraction of the total support after Hurricane Michael as compared to other major, recent disasters. For example, Red Cross received just ONE-TENTH of the support after Michael as compared to 2017's Hurricane Harvey. United Way's funding dropped by 86% and Salvation Army saw a similar decline.

It's so bad that local media are now calling this area the "Forgotten Coast."

I want to share with you my vision for 2019. But first, I have a confession...

Last year totally wrecked me.

Specifically, our time on the Florida Panhandle moved me. It challenged me. It broke me. And it made me more determined than ever to make sure Mercy Chefs fulfills its mission to "feed body and soul."

Since I founded Mercy Chefs nearly 13 years ago, I have had an up-and-close look at some of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history. I've seen hurricanes devastate communities. I've witnessed the ravages of uncontrolled fires tearing through entire neighborhoods. I've stood in the path of mile-wide tornadoes that literally destroyed every home and building in its path. I've seen how a rapidly rising river can devastate an entire town overnight.

Our latest SURGE newsletter highlights how your support is making a difference through Mercy Chefs! Go here to access!

More than 226,000 meals... and countless lives impacted BECAUSE OF YOU!

Please watch this brief video highlighting the difference your support made in 2018 and thanks!

This is a BIG WEEK for Mercy Chefs.

We will be serving thousands of holiday meals at four locations beginning on Wednesday and continuing through the weekend. It is such a joy for our team to reach out into communities where this may be the only Christmas dinner and Christmas celebration these families will ever have.

We do this especially for the kids...

Thank you so much to everyone who made this the best Giving Tuesday we have seen! We met our goal of sponsoring at least 2,000 holiday meals that will be served this Christmas season to disaster victims, children and needy families. 

Please see this brief video report on our recent deployment to the Florida Panhandle, and thanks for standing with Mercy Chefs!

This past weekend in Panama City while Mercy Chefs was serving 5,000 meals to hurricane victims, a woman sat down with me and shared her story. It's a story of how the generosity of friends like you made a dramatic difference in her life.

+ + No power. No kitchen. Food running out...

Today marks the eighth year of Giving Tuesday -- a nationwide effort to raise funds for non-profit organizations during the holiday season. 

This year, Mercy Chefs has set a Giving Tuesday goal of fully funding up to 2,000 of the holiday meals for disaster victims, children and needy families that we will be serving this Christmas season.

Each Christmas, Mercy Chefs serves thousands of holiday meals with all the fixings. This is one of the most important seasons of the year for our mission -- especially for the thousands of children who will experience what may be their only Christmas dinner and Christmas party at a Mercy Chefs event.

Will you help us meet our Giving Tuesday goal of fully funding 2,000 of our holiday meals? Simply click here or on the image below to help sponsor Christmas meals and continue other vital Mercy Chefs outreaches:

On Day Two of our Thanksgiving Weekend outreach to Florida hurricane victims, heartbreak hit our entire team. Our staff prepared a second round of about 400 holiday meals and served them at a makeshift "tent city" that has been set up at a church parking lot. This tent city consists of displaced workers, the homeless, and many families who still cannot return to their homes and have nowhere else to turn. So they are literally living in tents. Here is my video report;