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Chef José Andrés and World Central Kitchen are on the ground in Poland helping to feed Ukrainian refugees who are crossing the border.
Over 500,000 Ukrainian civilians have fled to neighbouring countries, Poland, Romania and Moldova. The situation is dire for those who had to leave everything behind, including family members, and travel on foot through the night in sub-zero temperatures to the relative safety of neighbouring countries.
Many European countries have waived visa requirements for Ukrainian refugees, and are providing aid to those who have stayed to defend their homes. For those fleeing their country, an uncertain future awaits.
Photo Courtesy World Central Kitchen
That’s why Andrés and his non-profit World Central Kitchen have mobilised on the ground at the border crossing to ensure Ukrainians arriving in Poland at least receive a warm, nutritious meal. The organisation is working with local chefs, restaurateurs, producers and supply chain figures to serve thousands of meals to hungry people enduring the trauma of flight from their homes.
“People don’t stop arriving,” said Andrés on the ground at Medyka, 500 metres from the Ukraine border. "People are cold, families are cold, they carry with them whatever they can bring, and usually a suitcase, but they are bringing children. It’s freezing cold and I don’t know how people can make it. But what you see is that they are escaping tragedy."
“We are in different places across the border in Poland. We are already feeding in Romania, we are going to be in a lot of different entry points too. Remember, there’s a lot of roads that leave Ukraine in different parts, wherever the crossing is - to Poland, Romania, Moldova, wherever - we’re already in different countries. We are already inside Ukraine. We have restaurants inside Odessa feeding, we are contacting others, and we are telling them ‘guys, there are many ways to fight and some people fight by making sure that people are fed'. Those are our people and we’re going to be supporting them in many ways."
Photo Courtesy World Central Kitchen
The immediate task now is to feed the scared and hungry people arriving across the border, but World Central Kitchen, led by Andrés and CEO Nate Mook, will deploy their relief in a three-phase approach.
“So this is phase one, taking care of the borders,” explains Andrés. “I think we’ve done a good job in less than three days. We are exponentially increasing the output of meals. I think only here we have done around eight thousand meals… If we need to reach a quarter of a million, we will.”
“Phase two is as all these people are arriving, we are sending them to other parts to shelters. And phase three will be to get tracks ready to go inside Ukraine once peace has been achieved. So we can go to different cities and open community kitchens and cover where there may be a huge need. It’s amazing, but one neighbourhood at a time, one restaurant at a time, we can feed everyone. It’s doable.”
How can you help Ukrainian refugees?
The work of World Central Kitchen will continue to expand with new deployments happening in Moldova, Slovakia and Ukraine. Funding for the operations will in part be drawn from the $100 million donation by Jeff Bezos, as well as from the donations of ordinary people and companies around the world. To donate to the cause to help feed Ukrainian refugees, do so on the World Central Kitchen activation page here.
