José Andrés and Team Have Fed More Than 80,000 Hurricane Florence Victims

Following the devastation of Hurricane Florence, humanitarian chef José Andrés and his nonprofit World Central Kitchen are on the ground providing meals and water to residents of North and South Carolina.

Per recent tweets from Andrés, it seems the hunger relief group currently has two kitchens set up in Wilmington and Raleigh, and is working with FEMA, the Red Cross, state emergency management agencies, and the military to transport meals to shelters in numerous other cities. WCK is also making meal deliveries to EMTs and first responders.

The coastal city of Wilmington was hit particularly hard by the storm and has been essentially cut off from the rest of the state due to high flood waters. More than 400,000 people in the Carolinas are still without electricity following Florence, and many have been displaced from their homes due to widespread flooding; Andrés’s organization is also working to provide solar lamps and food to people stuck in their homes.

Per a tweet from Andrés earlier today, the group has already provided more than 80,000 meals in the wake of Florence:

Normally WCK mobilizes after a disaster has struck, but in this case the group was on the ground before the storm actually hit: Crew member Tim Kilcoyne tells Eater Charleston he arrived in Wilmington on September 11 in order to secure kitchen space and start obtaining supplies and gathering volunteers.

World Central Kitchen was established in 2010 in the wake of devastating earthquakes in Haiti, and has since mobilized to feed victims of disasters in numerous places including Guatemala, Hawaii, Indonesia, and Cambodia. Last year following the catastrophic Hurricane Maria, Andrés and his team traveled to Puerto Rico and ultimately served approximately three million meals. A book chronicling the humanitarian effort, called We Fed An Island, was published earlier this month on the late Anthony Bourdain’s Ecco imprint.

• @ChefJoseAndres [Twitter]
• Chefs Come Together to Feed Hurricane-Affected Communities in N.C. [Eater Charleston]