When disaster strikes, we have come to expect celebrity Chef José Andrés to come to the rescue.
In 2010, celebrity Chef José Andrés founded the World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit organization that rushes to natural and man-made catastrophes all over the world to bring fresh, hot meals to all those in need. Andrés’ work with WCK has been so effective that he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2019.
On the World Central Kitchen website, Andrés writes that the mission of the organization is to realize “a world where there is always a warm meal, an encouraging word, and a helping hand in hard times.”
Now, WCK is focusing its resources on the COVID-19 world pandemic and one of the ways they’re lending support is by launching #ChefsForAmerica. This new program is designed to tend to two groups in dire need of a lifeline: frontline medical professionals, and out-of-work chefs.
The onset of the coronavirus panic caused many restaurants to close down, but #ChefsForAmerica is getting the culinary experts back in the kitchen. There, they work to bring fresh, nutritious meals to our incredibly overworked medical staffs, who barely have time to eat these days, let alone make their own food. WCK explains on their website:
#ChefsForAmerica is evolving into a coalition of restaurants and tech companies working together to provide meals to Americans that need assistance. This nationwide, scalable effort will feed those in need, as well as guarantee a reliable and recurring stream of revenue for restaurants that are prepared to safely produce nutritious meals — and provide income to delivery drivers.
World Central Kitchen is funded by various sources, businesses, and agencies, but to take some of the strain off their generous patrons, they have also partnered with Feed America to start a GoFundMe account for their efforts. Within the first 17 hours of launch, the fundraiser had already accrued nearly $12.5m of their $15m goal.
Along with feeding emergency workers and returning work to the unemployed, World Central Kitchen is also working tirelessly to bring food to anyone in need. They feed the quarantined people on cruise ships outside California and Japan, and they serve tens of thousands of meals daily in New York City, Washington, DC, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Newark, Oakland, San Francisco, New Orleans, Miami, and Puerto Rico, with plans to expand further.
Setting up the @WCKitchen “Cafe Tent” today at the coronavirus Field Hospital in Central Park….@MountSinaiNYC@SamaritansPurse@BilldeBlasiopic.twitter.com/PYMNOhy6Ik
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) April 2, 2020
The World Central Kitchen operates around the world and they are always in need of donations and volunteers. To find out more about supporting this worthy cause, click here.
And today we celebrate...