In 2019, I sat in on a nonprofit panel hosted at my university during the last part of my master's program to determine what avenue of full-time ministry the Lord was calling me into. Even writing that sentence makes me chuckle at how I used to think it was all up to me to figure out my paths…I digress. On this panel was an outreach feeding ministry called Mercy Chefs, which was introducing its new community kitchen launch in our area.

Mercy Chefs was birthed out of an outrage at the food services offered to those who had survived Hurricane Katrina. There were cold meals, poorly prepared and plated, and offered out with an air of the attitude that one should be grateful they were being given anything. From there, they became an emergency outreach feeding organization providing chef-curated meals prepared and plated to feed the whole person.

Since returning fully from Guatemala in June, I have been seeking ways to continue to build the ministry and empower others to act out their faith by loving their neighbor as themselves a bit more. One of the ways I have done this is by volunteering at Mercy Chef’s Portsmouth Community Kitchen. Weekly, we are preparing and packaging up hot and cold meals to various ministries, outreaches, first responders, veterans, and senior communities on a large scale. Recently, an impending snowstorm had us cranking out 645 meals for the community in one hour and 15 minutes. It was an amazing effort to be a part of. The entire operation is well-organized, efficient, and deeply dignified.

As I see more and more meals being prepared to go out, meet the people who are coordinating and receiving the meals, and learn all the other ways Mercy Chefs meets the needs of hungry people, I am moved by the dignity. It’s easy to just give things out, meet basic needs, and feel like you’ve done something. But when you do something with thought, consider what would be a great meal to heat up on a cold day after all the rent has been paid and there’s $6 left from the Social Security, and package it professionally and cleanly, it shows that the person has been considered. It’s teaching me that when we do something with the end idea of being the act instead of the person it’s for, we are missing the whole point. Jesus stopped and considered the soul of each person in need who interrupted him. He answered that, and the need was met.

We meet the needs of others when we connect with them as a person, when we connect with another human soul with a heart that was created to know Jesus and is seen by him. Reminding people they are seen, meeting the needs of the suffering with dignity, and allowing that to break your own heart for others more is a three cord strand that, when braided together within us, lift others with great strength.

There are many ways to get involved. There is need everywhere you look. Learn more about Mercy Chefs here.