G&R Farms helps Jose Andres feed Ukrainian refugees, urges produce industry to join fight

In an effort to help “nourish a nation in need,” Walt Dasher, vice president of G&R Farms, is donating $2,500 to World Central Kitchen to support the Chef Jose Andres-led humanitarian organization’s feeding operations as it prepares meals for Ukrainian refugees.

WCK reports that it is currently serving meals at eight border crossings across the country and supporting local restaurants preparing meals in eight Ukrainian cities, including Odessa, Lviv and Kyiv. WCK teams are also on the ground in Romania, Moldova and Hungary.

“I have watched in disbelief the crisis unfolding in the Ukraine and I am moved by the perseverance the Ukrainian people are showing to protect their families and get them to safety, while also staying behind to defend their country,” Dasher said in an email to The Packer. “They are an example to the world, and they are the line in the sand that represents freedom.”

Dasher is calling on other produce companies to join the fight. “As a food industry, we grow nourishing foods and, together, let’s help Chef Andres nourish a nation in need. I challenge each produce company to join me and make a donation to World Central Kitchen.”  

Donations can be made through the WCK website at: https://wck.org/

WCK, the brainchild of Andres and his wife, Patricia, was born in response to the 2010 devastating earthquake in Haiti. Since that time, WCK has strived to be “first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate and community crises,” according to its website.

Since 2010, WCK has donated food in the aftermath of numerous crises. In the last year alone, the organization has fed people in need following a typhoon in the Philippines, wildfires in Colorado, an apartment fire in the Bronx, N.Y., and now in the Ukraine, where Russia has launched a large-scale military operation.

“The United Nations estimates over 1.3 million Ukrainians have fled since the attack began, with that number expected to rise dramatically,” notes the WCK website. “The journey is daunting, with many Ukrainian families traveling for days without food.”

In February, Andres and his WCK team began their humanitarian relief efforts at a 24-hour pedestrian border crossing in southern Poland, where they served hot meals. Last week, in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Andres and his team had moved across the border and into the Ukraine to feed families in need.

"Cooking is a way to stand up. It's to say, you are not going to let my people go hungry." - @chefjoseandres speaks to Anderson Cooper on the ground in Ukraine, as his relief organization @WCKitchen is serving thousands of meals to refugees. pic.twitter.com/emz9B6h3i3 — CNN (@CNN) March 5, 2022

“Feeding is another form of fighting,” Andres told Cooper on March 4. “Cooking is a way to stand up. It’s to say, you are not going to let my people go hungry.”

Since the day after the attack from Russia began, WCK has been serving meals to thousands of families escaping the violence in Ukraine, reports the humanitarian organization’s website.

For the Glenville, Ga.-based G&R Farms, a grower of Vidalia and Peruvian onions, charitable donations are part of its ongoing efforts to feed people in communities near and far. Last year, the company tallied more than $100,000 in donations.