Humanitarian Logistics Awards 2020

In 2006, LeBlanc founded Mercy Chefs, a disaster relief and humanitarian organization that serves professionally prepared, restaurant-quality meals to survivors and first responders in emergencies and natural disasters. Thus far, Mercy Chefs has already served 7.6 million meals, including 5 million during the Coronavirus pandemic. Whether adjusting menus on short notice when supplies run short or determining how to best utilize transportation assets to respond to multiple crises at once, Gary and Mercy Chefs are a shining example of how logistics truly can save lives.

For moving more than 1.2 million pounds of freight such as PPE, hand sanitizer, water collection barrels and pet food free of charge on behalf of ALAN and more than 20 non-profit organizations during the COVID-19 crisis.

For donating 211 refrigerated trailer units to 59 unique non-profit organizations, adding up to over 9 million cubic feet, the equivalent of two average-sized refrigerated warehouses. This donation benefitted both healthcare organizations and food banks, including Feeding America, who were able to provide more fresh food for communities that were stricken with unexpected joblessness and higher dependency on food banks.

For receiving, storing, and staging 32 containers’ worth of tents, beds, and other critically needed medical supplies that were used to equip New York City area hospitals during the start of COVID-19 crisis.

For the vital funding that the Western Union Foundation has provided for relief efforts around the world. This includes a $133,000 grant that has enabled Save The Children and United Way India to serve more than 138,000 survivors of the Kerala, India, floods.

For the hundreds of hours that volunteers from its organization have dedicated to maintaining ALAN’s Supply Chain Intelligence Center, a free tool that enables businesses to see how COVID, extreme weather, and other hazards affect their operations so that they can do a better job of keeping their supply chains moving.

For the hundreds of hours that volunteers from its organization have dedicated to maintaining ALAN’s Supply Chain Intelligence Center, a free tool that enables businesses to see how COVID, extreme weather, and other supply chain disruptions affect their operations so that they can do a better job of keeping their supply chains moving.

For recognizing the need for masks in the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh and for creating an innovative supply chain and distribution model to gather materials, supply PPE and provide cash-for-work opportunities for camp residents.

For the disaster research she has conducted in various countries, as well as the solutions she has helped numerous humanitarian organizations implement, including: addressing the challenges of making deliveries to conflict zones, creating more scalable nutrition/health supply chains in Kenya, supporting community-based reconstruction supply chains in Kosovo and North Macedonia. Most recently she has been working with medical logistics and supply chain professionals to help secure deliveries to COVID-19 quarantine zones. Kovács is also the first professor in humanitarian logistics worldwide.