WINCHESTER, Ind. (WISH) — Since a tornado tore through Winchester and Selma injuring 38 people, more uplifting numbers have emerged, including well over 2,000 meals served to tornado victims by a group called Mercy Chefs.

Mercy Chefs is a Virginia-based disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization deployed to Winchester after the twisters struck the state last week.

Gary LeBlanc, founder of Mercy Chefs, joined Daybreak to tell News 8’s Scott Sander about the nonprofit organization.

“That was the genesis of Mercy Chefs. You know, I grew up in the business, restaurant, and hotel business in New Orleans. And then when Katrina hit I volunteered with so many other groups and I frankly got angry. I did not like the quality of the food they were serving. I thought there was a better way. I thought there was a bigger obligation to how you fed people when they’ve lost everything. So in that frustration, ‘Mercy Chefs’ was born to do high-quality handcrafted professionally prepared meals,” LeBlanc said.

The nonprofit serves chef-prepared meals in national emergencies and natural disasters. Members from the organization are currently set up at The Compass Church located at 101 Energy Park Drive in Winchester. Volunteers began serving hot meals on Sunday evening.

“We work so hard to create dignity with the meals that we serve. Everybody’s had everything stripped away from them and you want to value them, you want that dignity. So we believe something amazing happens over a shared meal. So we get to come into these situations and feed victims, volunteers, we get to feed all the first responders … and see those incredible things happen when somebody sits down with a high-quality meal, and they’re able to take a moment and sort of measure what’s just happened to them,” LeBlanc said.

Mercy Chefs is also preparing meals at the church in Winchester that are being delivered to Russells Point, Ohio, where a tornado also caused extensive damage.

“We’re taking about 1,500 meals a day over to Indian Lakes for lunch and for dinner. And we’re serving there. We’re able to transport our meals in hot boxes so they stay perfectly warm. So, we’re sharing as much love with as many people as we can get to,” LeBlanc said.

The organization says Mercy Chefs has served more than 25 million meals since its founding in 2006 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 

In a Facebook post, the Randolph County Sheriff called Mercy Chefs “A great organization that has taken care of a lot of people.”

LeBlanc says Mercy Chefs is completely donor-supported. Anyone interested in donating to the organization or volunteering can visit the website. There are links there where people can schedule to volunteer.