Virginia-based nonprofit on the ground in Nepal

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A Virginia-based nonprofit is on the ground in Nepal delivering food to families impacted by the catastrophic flood.

Mercy Chefs often provides hot meals to those in need, but pivoted to grocery packs for Nepal’s unique situation.

Many places are only accessible by helicopter.

“Most of the bridges have been wiped out. So, to get to the communities on the far side, you have to go hours around to find a bridge that’s operable to get to that community, and these people didn’t have margin beforehand. What little they had is now either gone or it’s under 20 or 30 feet of mud at this point,” Mercy Chefs Chief Global Officer Carl Ladd said.

Ladd was on the ground in Nuwakot on Tuesday, September 1, and has been in the country for several days now. In that time, he and his team have helped provide around 75,000 meals.

The packs contain 30 days of food rations, so people will be set for the coming days.

“Most of the families we’re distributing to have lost loved ones; they’ve lost their home, they’ve lost their livelihood, they’ve lost their farm. So it’s devastating,” Ladd said.

Mercy Chefs is working with local Nepali organizations throughout the effort, which Ladd says has been key.

Ladd has been on the ground for other natural disasters, and says typically in floods there’s a couple feet of sediment, but this time the debris extends all throughout the river valley.

“In most of these places there’s still 20 feet of sediment and so two-story buildings are underneath mud for whole towns,” Ladd said.

Ladd describes the entire experience as humbling, from seeing a sigh of relief on a mother’s face, to working with local volunteers.

Virginians are among some of the people still unaccounted for, which puts things in perspective for the Mercy Chefs team. Its crew is keeping them and their loved ones in mind during the mission.

“I would say that’s a really unique thing about this disaster is the amount of foreigners that were affected. Obviously, it’s a really popular destination and valley for trekking,” Ladd said. “It makes the world a little bit smaller and it hit a little bit more closer to home. And realizing that the international community is affected and obviously the Nepalese communities is largely affected.”

Mercy Chefs will continue to be in Nepal as long as its team is needed. Donations to the effort can be made here.