My friends,
Every December, when I reflect back on what we did together through World Central Kitchen over the year, I am humbled, grateful, and amazed at the way people come together to help their neighbors in need. Over and over again, we see how a freshly prepared plate of food served in someone’s darkest hour is one of the most powerful tools we can be using to fight hopelessness, despair, and the feeling that you are alone.
WCK has grown both in ways I couldn’t have imagined, but also exactly as I knew it could when humanity comes together around the belief that access to food is a universal human right. After serving tens of millions of meals in response to natural disasters, refugee crises, the global pandemic, and other emergencies over the past five years, a cold morning this February changed everything for WCK. I – like millions of people around the world – knew that when innocent Ukrainians were attacked, we had to act. WCK mobilized to the borders of neighboring countries to help the thousands of mostly women with children fleeing to safety. Quickly, we started activating restaurants in Ukraine itself, most of whom were already cooking for their communities. And the support we received from thousands of you around the world has been truly incredible, sustaining our efforts for the last 10 months, allowing us to serve more than 185 million meals in Ukraine. Since we started, WCK teams in Ukraine are every day supporting families living through the unthinkable—and with your help, we’ll keep cooking.
And even with such a massive response, WCK teams served 10 million meals in emergencies in more than 30 other countries, too. Climate-fueled disasters are getting worse, so we have been this year alone bringing relief to families affected by flooding in Kentucky, Pakistan, South Africa, and Australia; wildfires in Spain and across the western United States; hurricanes in Florida, Mexico, the Caribbean, and even Canada; and so much more. At the same time, we had teams in places like Puerto Rico, Haiti, and Guatemala strengthening local systems by working hand in hand with communities. All of these efforts, the hours, days, months WCK Food Fighters around the world spent chopping, boiling, frying, cooking, coordinating, delivering, serving… is made possible by you, our World Central Kitchen supporters. Make sure to see the work you're fueling in the video below.
So again, thank you—thank you for being with us in this fight to ensure everyone has a hot plate of food and hope for a better future.
José Andrés
![[UN News photo]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgZ2pM_Wkp1aa8VzuernGGygvQGg4_YtKYNibygtxZpefHO0R_LWScYhaXOtdP7fYUvxOlQwX9D4drfkqWpBKMHihK4js5H2ca4LUi3qwtmac8KI82vJKuTaXSvoilKA4SEj5cELRjwSDxgApI1hJoN2lBkpQGK6Uh29LOCP9q9teUMdf2Y-Nt8zhA726iLekIcFKUgsAjaK0wQaIn2prmSOhjKUrXPc0xGb1mq5VFRLXSuJpYX9wHcdNI6bCSOJ73gLmsaBTIAmAIMh8AF6sQifLAqq7rb-Vwwp105OdWrXQ39bNL4oRJOdphyavEATvYmZprETUM=s0-d-e1-ft)
![[UN News photo]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgZPheSxhX43jzZ6TnCDLTvSl2NrnqxwY7rwPiOpD39ZN7YHBXJafSfHx6MVUWDjmS7PEu9vj-bLZyRXemmKiALXXfNe0gZKaYOwI7MLawkL7MM-k_sh3wE3iZUIbVFQKEApTqATVFQB10QBofLf4tn1KxOPTSBijjHIUVZH0CiStqxvG6hFpoKUzimnqaqBs6OiDkI2BvXsfm5zCtw6VIxjZ4W8s_vTX-nfWv9XpQ6KMeT7_e0O5pN7U8GnvfpAy7y7Bkg4njOQQ82lO6kTs2Qx1ErbSiiv1PRL0JdS3fiQiBWcDZHYOU2qf8cN4rr8foclQ=s0-d-e1-ft)