Climate Disaster Fund

World Central Kitchen (WCK) is first to the frontlines providing meals in response to climate, humanitarian, and community crises. We launched the Climate Disaster Fund in November 2021 as our decade-long commitment to raise and spend $1 billion to support communities impacted by the climate crisis. While there are unknowns for a disaster relief organization—such as when, where, or how many crises will occur—our Climate Disaster Fund gives WCK the resources to respond with the “urgency of now” on a global scale without having to wait for disaster-specific funding. We are grateful for your incredible support of our climate-related relief work. WCK responded to 14 climate crises between November 2025 and February 2026, serving more than 8 million meals to impacted communities. We are pleased to share summaries of several of our emergency responses below:

Hurricane Melissa:On October 28,Hurricane Melissa made landfall near New Hope, Jamaica, as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 185 mph—the most intense Atlantic hurricane of 2025 and the strongest ever to strike Jamaica. The storm brought torrential rains, devastating storm surge, and widespread destruction to communities across the island. Flooding and landslides isolated neighborhoods, while hurricane-force winds left more than 75% of the country out of power, with clean water or fresh food access also cut off. Melissa was WCK’s second hurricane response in Jamaica, following Beryl in 2024. WCK mobilized quickly in response to Hurricane Melissa to prepare for large-scale relief operations. We established two large-scale WCK kitchens in Montego Bay and Negril, and partnered with 90+ local restaurant partners throughout the island. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with local partners, we delivered hot meals and fresh Jamaican patties to impacted families at 450+ locations across Jamaica, including hard-hit Hanover, St. James, Westmoreland, Manchester, and Clarendon. WCK served more than 6.7 million nourishing meals—including Jamaican patties, stewed chicken, and fresh-caught fish—in Jamaica.

Flooding in Veracruz:In October, heavy rainfall caused by Tropical Storm Raymond inundated Mexico's Gulf Coast, with 50+ municipalities across the state of Veracruz being the hardest hit. The downpours and ensuing flooding and landslides damaged thousands of homes, flooded roads, and cut off power to entire towns. WCK responded in Veracruz immediately and began serving meals within six hours of arrival. Alongside 20+ local restaurant partners, WCK provided warm meals to residents and first responders at their homes, emergency shelters, and community centers. For regions inaccessible by road, our teams carried out aerial assessments and sandwich deliveries by helicopter, doing our utmost to provide immediate relief where it was needed most. In early November, families across Mexico celebrated Día de Muertos—a day to honor loved ones who have died. To help flood-impacted communities in Veracruz observe this important holiday, WCK teams prepared and distributed 10,000 Día de Muertos kits containing traditional foods like pan de muerto. chocolate, candles, and flowers. In total, WCK distributed just under 400,000 meals through hot plates, sandwiches, and food kits. 

Wildfires in Chile:In January, massive wildfires sparked around the city of Concepción in southern Chile and rapidly expanded across the Ñuble and Bío Bío regions and forced more than 50,000 evacuations, leaving people in shelters and causing widespread disruptions to water, power, and connectivity. The wildfires blazed in the same region where WCK carried out our first ever response in Chile nearly three years ago, and a country where we have already responded to three separate disasters. Through these previous efforts, WCK formed strong partnerships with local organizations including Fundación Gastronomía Social. In just over three weeks, WCK partnered with 11 local restaurants to distribute more than 150,000 meals across dozens of locations in the impact region.

U.S. Winter Storm: In late January, a major winter storm impacted the central and eastern U.S., bringing heavy snow, sleet, freezing rain, and very cold Arctic air. Meteorologists described it as a high-impact event affecting over 150 million people, with the heaviest snow in the central Plains through the Midwest, Appalachia, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, and dangerous ice farther south including Texas, Oklahoma, the Lower Mississippi Valley, and the Tennessee Valley. WCK teams, in collaboration with our network of local restaurant partners and Chef Corps members, worked to serve hot meals and hot drinks to families impacted by power outages, limited access to roadways, and to emergency crews. At the height of our operations, WCK was serving 23,000 hot meals per day with the heaviest concentration of support in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. WCK also distributed meals in Arkansas, D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas. From Texas to Maryland, our teams partnered with 90+ local restaurants to serve nearly 190,000 meals across eight states and DC, ensuring families had warm food as extreme cold, power outages, and dangerous conditions disrupted daily life.

We are so grateful for your support of our climate-related relief efforts!

Links:

• Supporting Jamaican Beekeepers
• Dia de Muertos Holiday Kits
• Unbox a WCK Food Kit

World Central Kitchen (WCK) is first to the frontlines providing meals in response to climate, humanitarian, and community crises. In November 2021, WCK launched the Climate Disaster Fund as our decade-long commitment to raise and spend $1 billion to support communities impacted by the climate crisis. While there are unknowns for a disaster relief organization—such as when, where, or how many crises will occur—our Climate Disaster Fund gives WCK the resources to respond with the “urgency of now” on a global scale without having to wait for disaster-specific funding. We are grateful for your incredible support of our climate-related relief work.Together, we helped provide nourishment—as well as comfort, hope, and dignity—to impacted communities around the world. Including the conclusion of our responses to the monsoon flooding in Pakistan and Hurricane Erick in Mexico, WCK responded to 14 climate crises between June and October 2025, serving more than 5.2 million meals to impacted communities. We are pleased to share summaries of several of our emergency responses below:

Hurricane Erick (June - July): In June, Hurricane Erick slammed into the southern coast as a strong Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 125 mph to become the first major Pacific hurricane of the 2025 season. Erick underwent rapid intensification—when maximum sustained winds increase at least 35 mph in 24 hours—as the storm approached Mexico’s Pacific Coast, making landfall between Acapulco and Puerto Escondido. Local authorities reported downed power lines, flooding, landslides, and washed away roads. WCK’s Relief Team distributed fresh sandwiches while we assessed food support needs. Hurricane Erick impacted many of the same communities in and around Acapulco for a third year in a row, following the devastation left behind by Hurricane Otis in 2023 and Hurricane John in 2024. Having responded to all three hurricanes, WCK was able to reignite existing partnerships with local restaurants, aid groups, and community leaders to help expedite a speedy and efficient response. Our teams also prioritized the distribution of culturally-appropriate food kits aimed at supporting the long-term recovery of impacted families. In total, WCK served nearly 700,000 meals in just 18 days via hot plates of food, sandwiches, food kits (each designed to provide 25 meals), and bulk food item purchases for locally operated community kitchens.

Wildfires in Canada (June - July): This summer, dry conditions and high temperatures caused multiple wildfires to rip through northern Canada, burning 1.7 million acres in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta. In total over 25,000 people across these provinces were evacuated from their homes. A team from WCK arrived quickly in Winnipeg, and—working alongside our local food truck partners—began serving hot meals at the Billy Mosienko Arena, a local hub for relief that served as a shelter for displaced families. Our teams also supported Winnipeg and the surrounding areas by serving warm meals in shelters, welcome centers, and through local contacts in the First Nations communities—where we delivered meals to hotels hosting displaced residents. In late June, we supported two events with meals, including a celebration for Nation Indigenous People Day where we served meals to 400 people. In July, wildfires burned over a million hectares in Manitoba. WCK worked with the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) Command Center to provide the local Métis community with meals and other vital supplies. The steady supply of food the MMF received from WCK drastically helped their teams expand the reach of their relief efforts, from the Manitoba Métis community to other evacuees and First Nations families in need.In total, WCK served more than 45,000 meals in response to the wildfires in Canada.

Texas Hill Country Floods (July - August): On July 4, heavy downpours inundated communities in central Texas, with some areas receiving over 15 inches of rain in just a few hours. The Guadalupe River overflowed and caught local communities by surprise, sweeping away entire homes as floodwaters poured into neighborhoods, roadways, and nearby summer camps. Children and families at summer camps in the area were impacted by flooding, with many people stranded or missing. WCK reached children and staff at summer camps with fresh meals before they were safely evacuated. We provided hot meals at a reunification center where evacuees were gathering to reconnect with loved ones. In Hunt, we supported the Camp Mystic community, which was hit hard by the flooding. Our meals reached families at reunification centers, hotels, and rescue crews on-site at the camp and grieving families. In addition to the impacted summer camps, we delivered hot meals and sandwiches in hard-hit communities including Kerrville, Hunt, Ingram, and Georgetown. The team served these meals to displaced families sheltering in hotels or with other family members, and to first responders working long hours in the search zone. In Kerr County, WCK established a base at The Hunt Store, a longtime and treasured presence in the community. From this location WCK provided thousands of fresh meals. In total, WCK served more than 45,000 meals to impacted communities alongside 30+ local restaurant partners.

Pakistan Monsoon Floods (September - October): In early September, the worst monsoon flooding to hit Pakistan in over 40 years forced more than 500,000 local residents to flee their homes in search of safety. The floods unleashed devastating levels of damage across most of eastern and southern Pakistan, directly affecting and disrupting food systems for approximately 3.3 million people. WCK worked alongside our long-standing and trusted local partner, Rizq, to launch a widespread, multi-faceted emergency response spanning more than 260 communities across Jalalpur, Alipur, Narowal, and Hafizabad. Initial relief efforts centered around establishing community kitchens to serve warm meals to the hardest-hit regions that were left completely cut off by the floods. As access to impacted communities slowly returned, our teams shifted to distribute food kits—each including enough ingredients to feed a family of 4 for 22 days—allowing families to cook for themselves again in the hopes of returning some sense of normalcy amidst the destruction. In just five weeks, WCK distributed over 4.4 million meals to families affected by the monsoon floods.

Thank you again—we are so grateful for your support of our climate-related relief efforts!

Links:

• Supporting recovering communities in Texas
• Meals provide hope after the fires in Spain
• First 48 Hours of a WCK relief effort