World Central Kitchen serves up hurricane relief, partners with retailers and restaurants to scale up efforts

International Fresh Produce Association keynote speaker, Chef Jose Andres, puts his mission — to change the world through the power of food — into action in Florida this fall.

In Cape Coral, Florida, we've set up a food truck ? park where families can come enjoy meals from a variety of WCK partners—yesterday we served 8,000 here! In addition to hot meals cooked on site, people take home sandwiches for later. #ChefsForFlorida pic.twitter.com/v6jrZ76Q4N — World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) October 4, 2022

Within hours of Hurricane Ian's passing through the southeastern U.S., Andres’ hunger relief non-profit, World Central Kitchen, began distributing sandwiches and cooking hot, nourishing meals at non-profit’s relief kitchen sites. This week, WCK is providing meals in community distribution points in Port Charlotte, Cape Coral, and Fort Myers, multiple Lee County hospitals, Sanibel and Pine Islands, as well as additional food truck placements across several severely impacted communities, according to a news release.

Not only is WCK busy on the ground in Florida, serving hot meals and cold sandwiches, the organization is also building partnerships with area retailers and restaurants to scale efforts as quickly as possible. Bolstering the aide effort, specialty retailer The Fresh Market launched a three-week fundraiser, committing to match all register donations up to $100,000, with 100% of the proceeds donated to WCK. The Fresh Market fundraiser runs Oct. 5 – Oct. 25.

“Hurricane Ian has directly impacted many team members of The Fresh Market, their families and the communities we have served for the last 40 years,” Jason Potter, CEO of The Fresh Market, said in the release. “We understand the importance of fresh food and the comfort it brings and are proud to support World Central Kitchen’s efforts to assist the people who are experiencing the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.”
 

Related news: Hurricane Ian causes inbound freight rates to rise in Florida
 

WCK was founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés on the simple yet powerful idea that when people are hungry, you send cooks. World Central Kitchen provides fresh meals in response to crises with a Chef Relief Team mobilizing to the frontlines to start cooking and provide meals to people in need as soon as possible. Deploying its model of quick action, leveraging local resources and organizations and adapting in real time, WCK provides freshly made, nutritious meals quickly and effectively.

Learn more about Jose Andres keynote session at IFPA on Oct. 28 2022.