Hurricane Fiona
Over the course of one week, Hurricane Fiona took a heavy toll on Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Turks & Caicos Islands, Bermuda, and Nova Scotia. WCK advance teams were on the ground before the storm hit to bring nourishing meals and water to people in need as soon as possible. We served more than 680,000 meals across the five affected regions.
Hurricane Julia
After causing deadly landslides in Venezuela, Tropical Storm Julia intensified and slammed into Central America as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm left many Guatemalan communities severely flooded. Reaching impacted areas as soon as the storm passed, WCK provided more than 49,000 fresh meals in several towns in Guatemala and Venezuela.
Hurricane Ian
After causing power outages across Cuba, Hurricane Ian headed toward Florida, approaching Category 5 status. Arriving ahead of the storm, WCK began serving fresh meals immediately after Ian passed. Our teams served more than one million meals to impacted communities.
India
WCK activated with our long-time partner, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor in Assam, India after severe flooding displaced millions of residents and put entire villages underwater. Chef Kapoor is a member of our Chef Corps who has led previous efforts in India, and he helped the WCK team bring hot meals like curried potatoes with peas, yellow lentils, and cumin rice to impacted communities.
Bangladesh
Severe pre-monsoon rains in northeast Bangladesh damaged homes and crops, disrupting the lives of more than four million people. WCK began by preparing hot meals, but quickly shifted to also providing meal kits containing items like rice, potatoes, oil, and salt to families in need. Many communities were still inaccessible by road, so our team made deliveries by boat in Sylhet and Sunamganj.
Pakistan
In response to historic flooding in Pakistan brought on by an intense monsoon season, WCK established two Field Kitchens in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces, cooking tens of thousands of hot meals for impacted families. We continued support by working with regional partners Instant Aid and Rizq to distribute over 5,000 food kits to villages in need. Items in the food kits, which were locally sourced in Pakistan, included dates, rice, tea, and spices.
California
The Camp Fire in Northern California was, at the time in 2018, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history—the entire town of Paradise was largely destroyed. WCK set up two emergency kitchens in Chico and mobilized 3,000 volunteers to serve 55 locations, including shelters and emergency operations centers, and deliver meals to firefighters on the front lines. Our team worked to serve over 15,000 meals on Thanksgiving Day for families who had lost everything.
Australia
In January 2020, record-breaking temperatures and months of drought led to the most destructive fire season Australia has ever seen, with over 16 million acres burned. This was the first time WCK responded to a crisis on the continent, serving hot meals to first responders and evacuees of the deadly bushfires.
Spain
In 2022, WCK responded to seven wildfires across Spain between July and August, serving nearly 14,000 meals to first responders and evacuees. Firefighters were working around the clock to put out the fires, and WCK was on the ground in Zamora serving sandwiches, coffee, sweets, fruit, gazpacho, and cold water to fuel their efforts.