More Than a Meal: How Mercy Chefs and EmPowered Living Are Transforming Communities Together
- Dr. Daniel Gilbert
- Jan 27
- 3 min read
Tuesday, February 3
7:00 am
Dr Daniel & Mary Beth Gilbert
A partnership built on shared values, shared faith, and a shared vision for the next generation
“You’ve saved us from the nightmare of hunger tonight.”
Those words, spoken by a father in Jamaica after receiving a meal for himself and his children, capture the heart of what Mercy Chefs does every single day.
But for Carl Ladd, Chief Global Officer of Mercy Chefs, feeding people for one night isn’t enough.
“Our goal is always to work ourselves out of a job,” Carl explains. “But if I’m just feeding people, they’re always going to need to be fed.”
That’s why the partnership between Mercy Chefs and EmPowered Living matters so much.
Two Organizations, One Mission
Mercy Chefs is a faith-based disaster and humanitarian relief organization celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. From hurricane response to community kitchens, their professional chefs prepare restaurant-quality meals on a massive scale—up to 20,000 meals a day during disaster deployments.
But Mercy Chefs Global, the international arm Carl oversees, is doing something different. They’re looking beyond emergency response to address systemic hunger—the kind where families go to bed hungry every single night, not because of a hurricane, but because of poverty.
“There’s people that go to bed hungry every night,” Carl says. “And so we look at how we can engage in communities.”
The answer? Partnership.
The Two-Handed Gospel
Carl describes Mercy Chefs’ approach as the “two-handed gospel.”
One hand provides high-quality, chef-prepared meals to those facing food insecurity. The other hand introduces them to Jesus.
“At the end of the day, food is the vehicle,” Carl explains. “We use it to introduce people to Jesus, and hopefully they will have an encounter with the King of Kings.”
But Mercy Chefs doesn’t want to just fill stomachs. They want to transform communities. And that requires partners who bring what they can’t—education, discipleship, and long-term development.
Enter EmPowered Living.
A Perfect Partnership
The connection came through Mary Beth, EmPowered Living’s Co-Founder, who is also a member of the Mercy Chefs team who shared the work happening in Kenya through EmPowered Living. After meeting with Dr. Daniel Gilbert, Carl saw immediately that the values aligned.
“We look for partners where meals can be part of a larger system coupled with education and discipleship,” Carl says. “EmPowered Living checked all our boxes.”
Here’s how the partnership works:
Mercy Chefs takes on the food side of the mission—relieving the burden of food insecurity from the community.
EmPowered Living runs in their lane—focusing on pastoral training through ELIM Theological Institute, education at Word Academy, and care for children at Ebenezer Children’s Home.
Together, they provide a holistic approach that doesn’t just meet one need.
“Our heart is to do food in partnership with organizations so we can relieve that burden off of them,” Carl explains. “That empowers them to run in their lane and focus on their mandate—education, housing, discipleship.”
Working Ourselves Out of a Job
What makes this partnership so powerful is the shared vision for the next generation.
Carl is clear: Mercy Chefs doesn’t want Kenya to need them forever.
“Our goal, our dream, our desire is that Kenya wouldn’t need us next generation,” he says. “But that only comes with education and discipleship.”
This is the heart of EmPowered Living’s mission too.
When pastors receive sound biblical training, they transform their communities.
When children receive education and care, they break cycles of poverty.
When families are fed today, they have the strength to build a better tomorrow.
It’s the old saying brought to life: Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
Mercy Chefs provides the fish. EmPowered Living teaches fishing.
Together, we’re building a future where the “nightmare of hunger” becomes a distant memory.
Join the Mission
Mercy Chefs is celebrating 20 years of feeding body and soul. EmPowered Living continues to train pastors, educate children, and transform communities across Kenya, South Africa, and South America.
Together, we’re not just providing meals for tonight. We’re building a future where the next generation won’t need us at all.
That’s the goal.
That’s the dream.
That’s the mission.
Want to be part of it?
“You’ve saved us from the nightmare of hunger tonight.”
Because of partners like Mercy Chefs—and supporters like you—that nightmare is becoming a thing of the past.
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