WCK ramps up Ukraine response; Nearly 1 million meals served

 

With bombs still falling day and night, millions of Ukrainians continue to flee the country or relocate west to the city of Lviv. In response, WCK is rapidly expanding our #ChefsForUkraine response to distribute food—including hot, fresh meals—in five countries. We've now opened a kitchen and food supply depot in Poland, right on the border with Ukraine, and have multiple warehouses active in Lviv where trucks are filled with food to head east reaching cities like Odessa and Mykolayiv. We are also supporting more restaurants to serve meals in Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv and Kyiv, which remain under active attack. SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS IN UKRAINE The new WCK Relief Kitchen is located in Przemyśl—a Polish city just a few miles from the border with Ukraine that is receiving tens of thousands of refugees every day. From this kitchen, our team has the capacity to scale up and cook 100,000 meals per day utilizing 12 massive WCK paella pans and 12 large ovens. To reach Mykolayiv, Ukraine—a city targeted by Russian forces—WCK partner Team Humanity leaves Moldova before dawn with fruit, baby food, and more for families in the city. After distributing items, the team then focuses on getting women and children out of the city and to safety in Moldova.  The majority of refugees from Ukraine are currently arriving in Poland, so the WCK team has established 24/7 meal distributions at all eight border crossings. We are serving hot soups and other dishes through the cold nights—and to provide some extra comfort during this incredibly difficult time, we are also serving hot cocoa, tea, and coffee. Within Ukraine, we are now working with dozens of chefs and restaurant partners across 12 cities to provide meals to those who remain at home or are escaping to other locations within the country. More families are now beginning to stay in Lviv rather than leave Ukraine. The UN estimates over 2 million people are already internally displaced, so the WCK team, alongside our partners in Lviv and other cities across Ukraine, are cooking more meals each day. We are delivering the freshly prepared meals to 50 locations in Lviv alone, and that number goes up daily. From our WCK warehouses in Lviv, we are also helping fill gaps in the country’s strained food supply chain by sending meat, fresh produce, and dry goods like rice and bulgur to our restaurant partners. Multiple trucks have already gone to Odessa, Mykolayiv, Zolochiv and soon to Kyiv. We are working with the mayor's office in Odessa to deliver bulk food to the city's humanitarian warehouse. Children have dinner at a shelter that was once an orphanage in Moldova. The building is now hosting 100 women and children and has relied on donations from the small surrounding community to support families. WCK is now working with the shelter to provide hot, nourishing meals. The WCK team remains in awe of our partners across the region working day and night to feed people in need—we've seen incredible courage from Ukrainians showing up every day to cook in cities under siege. It's our honor to be able to support these teams in ensuring that everyone is met with a warm, nourishing meal, and we are so thankful to all of our supporters who have come together to show the power that a plate of food can hold in even the darkest times. Thank you. For the latest on our efforts, please follow WCK on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Help us serve more meals by supporting our work here.  Olena grew up in Ukraine before moving to Poland for school. Now, she's working every day to support families fleeing home; here is her story.