WCK and partners provide urgent aid in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon

First arriving in the region two weeks ago, WCK is supporting families in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon who are impacted by the extreme escalation of violence and accompanying humanitarian crisis. At the same time, we have prepositioned a team in Egypt and are working with local authorities to see how WCK-provided meals and other forms of support can enter Gaza as more aid makes its way into the territory.

While we wait on additional outside humanitarian assistance to be allowed into Gaza, we are working with Anera—our longtime partner on the ground—who has tapped into their network across the territory to locally source supplies to cook hot meals and assemble food kits. Anera is supporting families in Gaza City, which is under constant bombardment, and further south in Khan Younis, where many people have fled seeking safety.

In total, including hot meals and food kits with several days' worth of meals, WCK and Anera have distributed more than one million meals to Palestinians, and anyone else in Gaza affectedd by the conflict. There is also an urgent need for potable water and, with WCK’s support, Anera has located and purchased an entire warehouse of bottled water inside Gaza that will be distributed to people in need.

Alongside Anera, we are providing fresh produce kits in Gaza filled with potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, and more. Kits go to families able to cook for themselves, many in makeshift kitchens.

In Israel, our team is working with a robust network of local restaurant and catering partners to support thousands of people who are in need of food and water assistance. While some Israeli families living near Gaza were mandatorily evacuated and are receiving government assistance, many more families have evacuated voluntarily and are not eligible for the same support. WCK is focused on serving this population of evacuees, as well as people who are working in or staying in healthcare facilities. Through our partnerships, we have served more than 150,000 meals in the country.

The conflict also continues to intensify along the Israel-Lebanon border, where recent attacks have forced evacuations in both countries. To meet the needs of impacted families in Lebanon, we have again partnered with WCK Chef Corps member Aline Kamakian. As a Lebanese-Armenian chef, Aline has been on the ground with our team in Armenia—more on that response below—and is now pivoting to help WCK identify partners in Lebanon as well. You can learn more about our efforts here.

Supporting Afghan families after earthquakes

A series of earthquakes struck the Herat province in western Afghanistan in early October. The quakes leveled entire villages, destroying homes and vital infrastructure like wells. WCK began working with Instant Aid, our trusted partner in the region, shortly after the first temblor to provide food and water. Since the first quake, we have provided more than 120,000 meals to impacted families.

Support our work in Afghanistan by donating here.

The meals made by Instant Aid are going to families living in tents, who could no longer cook for themselves after their homes were destroyed. Our partner is also delivering meals to the hospital in Herat, which has been overwhelmed with injured people after the quakes. While the team is focused on cooking comforting, warm meals, they have also worked to procure fresh fruit. In one village, children were excited to see the apples our teams brought—they hadn’t had any fruit since the initial earthquake. Learn more about our efforts in Afghanistan.

Community input helps guide work in Armenia

It has been nearly a month since WCK teams served our first meals to refugees fleeing the Nagorno-Karabakh region. In that time, we have served more than 200,000 meals to families adapting to new lives in Armenia. Working alongside Chef Corps member Aline Kamakian and the nonprofit Armenian General Benevolent Union, we have assessed needs across the entire country and established operations to support people in 10 of Armenia’s 11 regions.

Watch as WCK's Juan Camilo reports from Yerevan.
Support our work in Armenia by donating here.

Families who arrived in Armenia were quickly welcomed by communities throughout the country. Thanks to this generosity, people in need of support spread across a wide geographical area. To meet people where they were, we established a Community Outreach Team primarily made up of locals, including several team members native to Nagorno-Karabakh and fluent in the region's dialect.

Having team members who can speak the dialect of displaced families leads to more honest feedback from the community and ensures we are offering the support that people truly need. “People sometimes tell me something that they wouldn't say to someone who doesn't speak the dialect—they were very open, honest, and sincere,” said Seva, who first joined our team as a volunteer and is now an integral part of our Community Outreach efforts. Seva has lived near Yerevan ever since fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh with her children in 2020.

Chef Aline, center, and members of our Community Outreach Team plan out the first phase of meal kit deliveries. Learn more about our efforts in Armenia here.

Through these interactions, we learned that families in temporary housing have regained the ability to cook for themselves. As a result, this week we will begin to distribute meal kits that will include enough ingredients to feed a family of four for up to a week. Once our teams get feedback from communities about the meal kits, we will expand this phase of the response.

Meet Inna, the Ukrainian Food Fighter running the NYC Marathon

In less than two weeks WCK’s Meal Milers will hit the start line at the NYC Marathon! The team has been hard at work training and everyone is feeling prepared for race day. Inna—one of our two Ukrainian Meal Milers—is among the team members with the most running experience, an asset that has helped her stay consistent with training while managing her responsibilities as part of our Emergency Response Team in Ukraine.

Inna joined WCK’s team in her native Ukraine shortly after we served our first meals to families fleeing for their safety after Russia's full scale invasion. Now, as part of our Emergency Response Team, she works tirelessly to offer critical and immediate support to civilians impacted by Russian attacks. Inna is driven by a deep sense of purpose and a commitment to serving Ukrainians in need.

If you’re in New York City, please come cheer on our team! You can download signs and learn more about our team here. If you won't be there on race day and still want to support the Meal Milers, you can also help them reach their fundraising goals here.

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