After first making landfall in late September 2024, record-breaking Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction in the southeastern United States, inflicting significant damage to homes, public infrastructure, and peoples’ livelihoods. Helene was followed closely by Hurricane Milton weeks later. WCK set up a multi-state emergency response, detailed below.
Florida: WCK’s teams prepositioned in Tallahassee ahead of Helene’s landfall, enabling us to begin serving meals as soon as it was safe to do so. Our new Rapid Relief Field Kitchen prepared thousands of meals which were flown by helicopter and delivered via foot and trucks, SUVs, and ATVs. WCK established a large-scale Field Kitchen just outside Tampa to cook thousands more meals. Ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall, WCK closed our kitchen and positioned our teams to safely ride out the storm. Afterward, our teams carried out assessments from Cedar Key to the south and from Ft. Myers up north to Sarasota. We conducted scouting trips via land and air, distributing sandwiches and water as we did so. WCK’s restaurant and food truck partners positioned across the hardest hit portions of the state and handed out fresh meals to anyone in need. WCK also reopened our Field Kitchen to cook thousands of meals.
North Carolina: WCK established a second Field Kitchen in Asheville at our headquarters located at WCK Chef Corps member Jamie’s restaurant, Bear’s Smokehouse. Our team at this facility prepared thousands of meals per day, available for walk-up distribution and dispersed throughout the region via car, ATV, helicopter, and any other means necessary. There were also widespread water shortages in the region, and WCK delivered an average of 40,000 gallons of potable water each day. Our team built stations where people could access the water they needed, and volunteers delivered water to people stranded in hard-to-reach locations. In addition to providing warm meals and fresh water, WCK worked with local restaurants to set up tanks and pumps to connect their establishments to water. With the help of our local team on the ground we continued serving meals to community and government shelters in North Carolina through April 2025.
Tennessee and Georgia: WCK served meals door-to-door to communities in Tennessee and Georgia that suffered the most from Hurricane Helene’s destruction. As roads and passageways were cleared, WCK expanded the reach and impact of our disaster response in Tennessee. For example, WCK used ATVs to deliver warm meals to residents in the community of Poga following the construction of a makeshift bridge using the beds of several big rig trucks connected together. In Georgia, WCK partnered with local restaurants and food trucks to bring warm, delicious meals to communities in the hardest-hit regions. WCK witnessed the full power of community, as local food suppliers and distribution centers stepped up in the aftermath of the storm to help cook and serve hot food to their neighbors.
Through the efforts of our two large-scale kitchens and a strong network of 150+ local restaurant and food truck partners, WCK distributed nearly 2.1 million nourishing meals and over 2.2 million gallons of drinking water to families affected by the storms.
You can sign up for our newsletter by going to wck.org to receive more information and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for real time updates.
WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. When disaster strikes, WCK’s Relief Team mobilizes to the frontlines with the urgency of now to start cooking and provide meals to people in need. By partnering with organizations on the ground and activating a network of local restaurants, food trucks, or emergency kitchens, WCK serves comforting meals to survivors of disasters quickly and effectively. We know that good food provides not only nourishment, but also comfort and hope, especially in times of crisis.
WCK has provided more than 400 million fresh, nourishing meals for communities around the world. Your donation today will be used to support our emergency food relief efforts.
WCK Tags:
food, relief, food relief, food security, aid, crisis, international, disaster, disaster relief, hunger, hunger relief, emergency, meals, cook, comfort, nourish, people, community, local, global, humanitarian, climate, climate disaster, kitchen, Jose Andres, chef, storm, hurricane, florida, georgia, tennessee, north carolina, asheville,
