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. Including the conclusion of our responses to Hurricane John in Mexico and Hurricane Milton in Florida, WCK responded to eight climate crises between November 2024 and February 2025, serving more than 11.2 million meals to impacted communities. We are pleased to share summaries of several of our emergency responses below:

Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton (September 2024 - Present Day): Beginning in late September, Category 4 Hurricanes Helene and Milton unleashed havoc on the southeastern United States. While many hard-hit communities in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee have been able to return to their normal daily routines, thousands of families in western North Carolina are still recovering from the devastating, record-breaking floodwaters. Through the efforts of our large-scale Field Kitchen at Bear’s Smokehouse in Asheville and our incredible network of local restaurant partners spread throughout the area, WCK has continued to serve warm, nourishing meals to communities who remain on the road to recovery. To provide extra comfort to affected families through the cold winter months, WCK cooked special Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts—such as pork loin with carrots and potatoes—and distributed thousands of festive Christmas Day boxes with local pastries, fresh fruits, and other sweet treats. Our teams will continue to support families in western North Carolina for as long as we are needed. To date, WCK has provided more than 2 million meals to communities impacted by the hurricanes.

Flooding in Spain (October 2024 - January 2025): In late October, a weather phenomenon, known locally in Spain as DANA, created a destructive storm system that brought more than a year's worth of rain in just hours in parts of Valencia. People had little time to react as rivers overflowed into streets and swept into homes and businesses. WCK served hot meals, sandwiches, water, and other support for families experiencing hunger due to the flooding as well as volunteers and first responders working long hours to help communities recover. WCK supported communities in need by establishing three kitchens, partnering with local chefs and restaurants, opening multiple varieties of public street markets, and launching a free grocery program.WCK distributed more than 6 million meals via warm plates, bocadillos (sandwiches), and food kits.

Cyclone Chido (December 2024 - Present Day): In mid-December, Cyclone Chido directly hit Mayotte, a small overseas French department with a population of about 320,000 people, as a Category 4 storm with winds up to 225 km/h (140 mph). The storm destroyed 90% of the island’s structures, devastating entire communities. Communications were down across much of the island, along with electricity, water, and basic services. WCK’s Relief team has partnered with 80+ restaurants across Mayotte to provide warm, comforting meals for people without access to food. We have also cooked out of a Field Kitchen established on the island, with meals including chicken curry with turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and peppercorns, served with jasmine rice. In addition to hot meals, WCK has provided food kits to families able to cook for themselves. These kits, assembled with locally sourced ingredients, support a family of five for several days. Each one has included fruit, milk, flour, and cooking essentials like charcoal. We have also distributed ingredients and donated kitchen equipment to community kitchens, helping sustain existing meal preparation efforts. WCK has served tens of thousands of meals a day and has distributed more than 2.7 million meals in total so far.

Wildfires in Los Angeles (January 2025 - Present Day): In early January, multiple wildfires broke out across several major residential areas in Los Angeles County. Fueled by strong Santa Ana winds, the blazes were extremely difficult to contain for local firefighters and first responders, and consumed tens of thousands of acres of land. The wildfires destroyed thousands of structures, forced the evacuation of up to nearly 200,000 people at the height of the emergency, and tragically resulted in the loss of human life. WCK has served comforting meals to first responders and impacted families across 225+ locations in Southern California, including emergency personnel hubs, shelters, and public distribution sites. In addition, we have distributed free produce at farmers markets across the impacted area. By purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables from local growers, our teams have ensured families affected by the wildfires can access nutritious ingredients at no cost—while also supporting farmers in their recovery. In total, WCK’s local network of 80+ restaurant and food truck partners has served nearly 850,000 comforting meals and counting to communities affected by the fires’ destruction.

Flooding in Australia (February 2025): Severe flooding in Queensland left entire communities cut off, depriving families of reliable access to food, water, and other essentials. Continued heavy rain and poor weather complicated relief efforts, but WCK’s Relief Team was on the ground and adapted our response to ensure food reached people in need. We worked alongside local partners to serve fresh meals and utilized helicopters to access remote areas—delivering hundreds of sandwiches and meat pies, an Australian staple. WCK delivered hot meals and sandwiches to multiple flood-affected areas including Long Pocket, Abergowie, Macnade, Halifax, Cordelia, and Forrest Beach. In total, we served more than 5,200 meals in response to the flooding along with water, bread, and milk.

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

Links:

• How WCK Aid Reached Mayotte After Cyclone Chido
• How Chef Daniel Shemtob Brings Relief Through Food to LA
• Neighbors Feeding Neighbors After Valencia Floods

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. Including the conclusion of our responses to the New Mexico wildfires and the flooding in Brazil, WCK responded to 15 different climate crises between July and October 2024, serving more than 4.2 million meals to impacted communities. We are pleased to share summaries of several of our emergency responses below:

Hurricane Beryl (July 2024 - August 2024): The first major storm of the 2024 hurricane season was Beryl, which broke records on its strength, intensity, and how early in the season it formed. As the hurricane approached islands in the southern Caribbean, WCK prepositioned in Miami, a transit hub that would allow our teams to reach impacted areas quickly. We then established a multi-island, multi-country response to address the unique food support needs of the hardest-hit communities across Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Jamaica, Venezuela, and Texas. WCK Relief Teams used whatever means necessary—distributing fresh meals by land, air, and sea—to reach families rebuilding their homes and businesses. Our WCK Chef Corps members and partners took special care to cook meals using local recipes and ingredients, like Jamaican patties, in hopes that familiar flavors bring extra comfort to the people we serve. In total, WCK provided more than 320,000 warm meals to communities affected by Hurricane Beryl.

Flooding in Bangladesh (August 2024 - September 2024): In late August, heavy monsoon rainfalls triggered devastating flooding in the low-lying areas across northeastern and southern Bangladesh. Impassable roads and dangerous landslides isolated entire communities, and crops were destroyed or washed away for a million farmers. The WCK Relief Team first arrived in the northeastern city of Sylhet and quickly began scaling up relief efforts to meet the immense needs of communities cut off by the floodwaters. Since reaching isolated communities often involved several truck and boat transfers, our teams distributed shelf-stable food kits that allowed residents to cook fresh meals for themselves. As the situation in the north stabilized, our Relief Team shifted focus to communities in southern Bangladesh, where floodwaters lingered. Over the course of just three weeks, WCK served more than 1.4 million meals via warm plates of food and large kits containing fresh ingredients.

Flooding in Poland and the Czech Republic (September 2024): Beginning on September 11, the low-pressure, slow moving Storm Boris hammered central Europe, where unrelenting torrential rainfall caused the worst flooding seen in decades. WCK teams first arrived in Nysa, Poland and immediately began assessing food gaps in the region with sandwiches in hand. Our Relief Team conducted a nomadic relief effort, following the constantly shifting food needs across Poland and the Czech Republic as they changed daily. Our response was supported by partnerships with local food trucks and restaurants who helped maintain a high degree of flexibility across a large geographical area. The chefs from one of our long-standing food truck partners, Ramen Food Truck, are originally from Ukraine and helped serve meals to refugees fleeing from violence in 2022. They shared with our team that they were deeply moved to have the opportunity to “give back” to the Polish people who supported Ukraine during dark times. Working alongside our partners, WCK provided over 208,000 warm meals to communities recovering from the flooding.

Hurricane John (September 2024 - Current): Hurricane John made landfall along Mexico’s southern Pacific coast twice in the last week of September, dumping a year’s worth of rain on the state of Guerrero in just five days. WCK provided emergency food relief in Guerrero one year prior, when the strong winds from Category 5 Hurricane Otis brought widespread destruction. The flooding from Hurricane John has been more severe, leaving rural communities across the state cut off from food, water, and other vital resources. Our Relief Team has cooked and distributed meals from our large-scale WCK Field Kitchen centrally located in Acapulco. Each day, local volunteers have helped distribute warm food to isolated communities as far as three hours away, some only accessible by boat or ATV. Our work is supported by partnerships with local restaurant and food suppliers, the majority of whom are returning after helping WCK’s relief efforts last year. So far, WCK has served more than 775,000 nourishing meals.

Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton (September 2024 - Current): Hurricane Helene made landfall along Florida’s Big Bend region on September 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm, causing significant damage in coastal communities with record-breaking storm surges and winds up to 140 mph. Further inland, record breaking rainfalls caused widespread flooding which isolated communities from their access to vital resources. With our teams prepositioned in the south, WCK began providing much needed food and water relief across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina immediately after Helene passed. Nearly two weeks later, Hurricane Milton swept across Florida as a Category 4 storm, forcing local residents to seek shelter for a second time. Through two large-scale WCK Field Kitchens in Asheville and Tampa—and a network of 100+ restaurant partners—our teams have been working tirelessly to cook and distribute tens of thousands of comforting meals each day to people affected by the storms. We have also distributed more than 650,000 gallons of water in western North Carolina, as the water supply chain was severely disrupted. WCK has served more than 1.3 million nourishing meals in response to both hurricanes.

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

Links:

• Farm to table meals in Grenada after Hurricane Beryl
• A tour of WCK's kitchen in Tampa for Milton relief
• WCK Chef Corps member Jamie McDonald in Asheville