Starting in late December 2022, a wave of atmospheric rivers poured over 24 trillion gallons of water on California. Communities across the state went from extreme drought to severe rainfall in a matter of days. Northern California was hit hardest with major flooding and landslides leaving people in towns like Pescadero isolated, without power, and displaced from their homes. There, chefs Marcos and Mateo of Taqueria La Gallina joined our efforts by preparing heartwarming Mexican specialties for families in need.

26,000+ meals served

When residents of Selma, Alabama were forced to run for cover as the city took a direct hit from a tornado, a local church came together to support neighbors in need. Shortly after the tornado tore through the city, members of Ebenezer Baptist Church jumped into action. The church’s pastor—James Perkins Jr.—is Selma’s current mayor. Mr. Perkins had previously served in the role from 2000 to 2008 and was the first Black mayor elected in the city. Cynthia, the mayor’s wife, led the church’s congregation as they helped our Relief Team distribute hundreds of hot meals and sandwiches to families without power.

2,600+ meals served

A searing heatwave, dry weather, and winds combined to spark fires across Chile. The regions of Biobío, Ñuble, and Araucanía were the hardest hit. Our Relief Team met widespread food needs as firefighters and volunteers controlled the blazes.

Support from the community was overwhelming, and there were many food partners who helped us serve nourishing meals, including Carli. She and her family stationed their food truck in Santa Juana, and whipped up delicious "completos" — hot dogs dressed with tomatoes, avocado, and three different sauces. The hearty dish offered a much-needed sense of home.

25,000 meals served

Our teams arrived in Adana, Türkiye as soon as possible, and immediately began identifying restaurant partners and firing up a WCK Field Kitchen. Because the need was so widespread, WCK established regional teams capable of reaching communities across hundreds of miles. Within the first week, we had partnered with more than 25 restaurants.

One year of the brutal war in Ukraine

On February 24, 2022, life in Ukraine changed forever when Russia launched its large-scale invasion. One year later, our teams continued to work alongside Ukrainians living in unthinkable circumstances. WCK began serving meals within hours of the initial invasion, and twelve months later we had served over 200 million meals. With adaptation and perseverance, WCK Food Fighters support neighbors in need and in 2023 they continued showing up for frontline communities after senseless attacks.

Explore more about WCK’s first year in Ukraine.

Several towns in Southern California were cut off after historic snowstorms hit San Bernardino County. Despite several feet of snow, WCK was on the ground quickly with water and sandwiches. Our Relief Team set up a distribution site in Crestline where residents could pick up both hot meals and bags of fresh produce for cooking at home. To ensure we reached all pockets of need, WCK worked alongside Operation Mountain Strong, a community-led initiative providing disaster relief and promoting recovery in the region.

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1,600 meals served

As the war in Ukraine entered its sixteenth month, residents in cities like Dnipro were under constant bombardment. Day after day, Russian missiles and rockets fell on communities, further deteriorating access to food, water, and other basic necessities. Our Emergency Response Team worked daily to provide immediate support following the attacks. WCK efforts are locally led—staff, partners, and volunteers in Ukraine have all been impacted by the war. Still, they show up every day for people in need.

May was marked by volcanic activity in Latin America. While we were preparing for a potential eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia, eruptions from the Fuego volcano in Guatemala forced evacuations. Members of our Relief Team responded by providing meals to a shelter in Santa Lucía where about 1,500 people were staying until the situation stabilized. WCK first responded to an eruption from Fuego in 2018, where we served half a million meals for families impacted by the disaster.

Sasha’s community in southern Ukraine was devastated when the Kakhovka Dam, a critical piece of infrastructure holding back a massive reservoir of water, was destroyed.

The waters that rushed out of the reservoir flooded towns and cities for miles along the banks of the Dnipro River. WCK teams were on site within hours, using whatever means necessary—including inflatable boats—to reach people whose homes were surrounded by water. When we reached Sasha’s home, he immediately offered his rubber boots to WCK team members who were traversing flooded streets to deliver meals and water to his neighbors in need.

July brought month’s worth of rain across Vermont in just a matter of days. Catastrophic flooding forced thousands of people to evacuate and destroyed homes and businesses in many communities. As we see wherever we are in the world, locals stepped up to support each other—Vermonters united to help their most vulnerable neighbors in a time of unprecedented need. Chef Warren—originally from Jamaica—was one of the many local partners who jumped in to help feed his community, serving comforting bowls of mac and cheese to families in the hardest-hit areas of the state.

9,000+ meals served

Our Relief Team landed on Tenerife—the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands—as emergency crews worked to control the worst wildfire on the island in decades. Within hours of arriving on the island, we began providing sandwiches and cold water to firefighters and were able to support them until the fires were extinguished. Zulay, our restaurant partner on the island, prepared hundreds of sandwiches to help fuel first responders.

1,350+ meals served

While Category 3 Idalia hit a sparsely populated part of western Florida, the storm impacted small, tight-knit communities scattered throughout the region. Our teams had prepositioned to respond as soon as the storm passed and quickly set up 15 distribution sites along a 150 mile stretch between Cedar Key, Florida, and Valdosta, Georgia. El Orgullo Latino Kitchen was one of the food trucks that worked with us to serve meals in the aftermath of Idalia. Their team has a lot to be proud of, from their delicious food to their business itself—which is entirely owned and operated by Latina women. This was their fifth response with WCK.

94,000+ meals served

WCK teams were on the ground in Morocco within hours of the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that hit in early September. One constant during WCK’s response was the incredible hospitality extended to our teams. Despite devastating loss, residents of hard-hit communities invited teams delivering meals into what remained of their homes to share tea. Through these conversations, we built a clear understanding of what support each village needed.

By establishing two Field Kitchens and working with restaurant and NGO partners, WCK-provided meals reached the most remote communities across the Atlas Mountains.

More than 120,000 people sought refuge in Armenia after conflict intensified in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, also called Artsakh. Many of the volunteers working in our Relief Kitchen in Yerevan were women from Artsakh, who lost family members and friends to the violence that forced them from their homes. Yet these same women showed up in WCK’s kitchen to help cook for their fellow Artsakhis, to give hope to the people around them, despite all they had gone through.

The strength and intensity of Hurricane Otis caught many people by surprise. What started as a tropical depression in the Pacific Ocean quickly turned into a Category 5 hurricane that hit the coast of Mexico, slamming into Acapulco and smaller communities nearby. First arriving in Mexico City—as access to Acapulco was not yet possible—we got a hold of sandwiches, cases of water, and helicopters to provide immediate relief.

In the weeks that followed, our staff, partners, and volunteers worked tirelessly to provide millions of meals in impacted communities. Beyond hot meals, we also distributed life sustaining water and other resources such as corn flour to make tortillas, a staple in homes across the region.

5+ million meals served

Every resident in the town of Grindavik was forced to evacuate from their homes in late November in anticipation of a catastrophic volcanic eruption. Working alongside Chef Jóhann Issi Hallgrímsson of Issi Fish & Chips, we provided nourishing meals to impacted people. Chef Issi grew up near Grindavik and now runs the fish and chips restaurant with his wife Hjördís. The couple pride themselves on using the freshest possible ingredients and source their fish locally in Grindavik.

As response efforts in Mexico transitioned to long-term recovery, families were once again able to cook for themselves. WCK’s focus switched from hot meals to food kits filled with several days of ingredients. We took the opportunity to bring some holiday cheer to communities that had recently lived through some of the darkest times imaginable. Our teams organized posadas—traditional Christmas parties.