By Evan Cameron | Associate, Development Writing
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!
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