Over a million people in Lebanon have been driven from their homes since early March when Israel intensified its attacks on Iran-supported Hezbollah forces.
Thousands of displaced people are sleeping in small tents or in their cars in northern Beirut. With the crisis growing daily a unique ministry partnership formed to feed hot meals to displaced families.
VIDEO SCRIPT
SCRIPT: MERCY CHEFS LEBANON
2026-04-21
INTRO:
Over a million people in Lebanon have been driven from their homes since early March when Israel intensified its attacks on Iran-supported Hezbollah forces. Thousands of displaced people are sleeping in small tents or in their cars in northern Beirut. With the crisis growing daily a unique ministry partnership formed to feed hot meals to displaced families.
PACKAGE:
VO: As thousands of displaced families began settling wherever they could in northern Beirut, a local Youth With A Mission base received a surprise offer from Mercy Chefs, a faith-based crisis response group. The base director, Ryan Mackle was astonished.
Ryan Mackle, YWAM Beirut Impacto Co-Founder: “When they wrote to us and said, Hey, we see the displaced. We see what’s going on. We want to come. I didn’t realize that meant in 48 hours they would be on the ground buying kitchen supplies, getting us set up.
“The next day that they landed here, we were already buying all of our industrial kitchen equipment, we were knocking out a wall and they’re like, Hey, tomorrow morning let’s do our first 500 meals. And I’m thinking, how can we do 500 meals tomorrow? We, they just got here like, alright, there’s so much need out there, let’s just go for it.”
Sure enough, the next day their chefs were ready to run. They’d just gotten off the plane the night before things were moving, I was blown away. Sure enough, the next day their chefs were ready to run.”
VO: In a matter of days, Mercy Chefs and YWAM had not only created a commercial-grade kitchen, they were serving some 2,000 restaurant-quality meals a day to displaced families.
Carl Ladd, Mercy Chefs Chief Global Officer “We’re right in the heart of where the need is. We’re right, we’re surrounded by the million plus that are displaced. The bombings, the air raids, those things are happening just a couple kilometers away from us. So as we’re cooking our meals, we’re hearing jets, we’re hearing drones, we’re hearing the explosions, but we’re also seeing the joy and hearing the laughter and hearing, seeing the love of a family when a meal is put in front of them.”
VO: Mackle says the partnership between Mercy Chefs and YWAM, is bringing local churches together, and touching the lives of those they serve.
Ryan Mackle, YWAM Beirut Impacto Co-Founder: “For one number us, It’s given us incredible exposure with the greater body of Christ, seeing different church streams coming together, these meals going out, like the testimonies. We’re getting videos from our partners, them preaching the gospel. We’re seeing people getting prayed for, getting healed, getting saved, like the testimonies are incredible.”
“Almost every time we pray for people, they’re just crying because they’re so touched by the love of God. It really goes back to this simple thing of bringing hot food to people in their most dire, their most desperate moments.”
VO: With little hope for the conflict to end in Lebanon, this mission of providing hot meals to homeless families could continue well into the future.
Carl Ladd: “We’re here, we’re serving thousands of meals a day and we’re going to continue and we want to stay as long as the need is here. And thankfully with our local partners, you know, we’re building a kitchen and that kitchen’s meeting the immediate need, but then we’re also building for the long term.”
VO: Peter Wooding, Global News Alliance.
People Interviewed and their Titles
Ryan Mackle, YWAM Beirut Impacto Co-Founder
Carl Ladd, Mercy Chefs Chief Global Officer
Recording Location
Beirut, Lebanon
Organization featured in this Story
Mercy Chefs – https://mercychefs.com
YWAM – https://ywam.org/location/ywam-beirut-impact/b-2506
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