By Donna Cannatella
It was an honor for our team here at the Chesapeake Conference Center, managed by VenuWorks, to play a part in helping serve the needs of our community during the coronavirus pandemic.
I coordinated with Chef Kristen with Mercy Chefs in Portsmith, VA, to have our venue Chef Mario and his team 
volunteer with Mercy Chefs to help prepare food for families in need in our community. I learned of this great opportunity while in the Hampton Roads Chamber Zoom meeting just last week.
Mercy Chefs is a faith-based, non-profit disaster relief organization that exists to serve professionally prepared meals to victims, volunteers, and first responders in national emergencies and natural disasters such as the one we are currently facing. They are in great need of professional chefs and F&B staff to prepare quality home cooked meals. My team enthusiastically volunteered to assist in any way possible. Their first day was Tuesday, April 28, and they will be back again to volunteer their services.
We are so happy to be a part of serving our community and helping in any way that we can to help feed the hungry and feed our first responders who are battling COVID-19 on the front lines.
Stay safe. Stay well.
Donna Cannatella is executive director of the Chesapeake Conference Center in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Pictured from left: Chef Kristen of Mercy Chefs, sous chef, Wakanda, Nikki, and Chef Mario.
