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This is our commitment to supporting communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

WCK’s response to climate-related disasters

This is a fight so hungry people can eat.

WCK has witnessed first-hand the crisis of climate-triggered hunger around the world. Hurricanes are developing earlier in the year and occurring more regularly and with increased intensity; devastating wildfires are now becoming a year-round threat; and warmer temperatures are fueling added moisture in the air, unleashing record rains and flooding around the world. This crisis is driving hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees from their homes seeking safety, shelter, and food. Without access to fresh food in their communities, people are forced to move elsewhere. 

Climate crisis-fueled extreme weather leads to most of the emergencies to which WCK responds. The increased frequency and ferocity of catastrophic weather events requires us to continually adapt our model for relief and humanitarian assistance. Since launching this initiative, WCK teams have used the support raised through our Climate Disaster Fund to provide meals following disasters including Category-5 Hurricane Ian in Florida, extreme rainfall and flooding in Pakistan, and a destructive series of wildfires in Spain.

As world leaders pursue long-term policies to address the climate crisis over several decades, WCK has committed to raising and spending $1 billion to immediately help families impacted by extreme weather. Launched in 2021, this initiative was initially seeded with $50 million for acute disaster relief—our commitment spans 10 years as we will continue to ensure vulnerable communities have access to nutritious food immediately following natural disasters. 

In 2022 alone, WCK responded to 30 climate-related crises in countries including Australia, Brazil, India, Madagascar, and the United States. WCK uses what we call the Urgency of Now to get on the ground immediately following a disaster—or even ahead of events like a hurricane, when possible—to secure a kitchen and begin cooking. Utilizing whatever resources are necessary, whether it be a truck, boat, plane, helicopter, or amphibious vehicle, WCK teams work with local community leaders to ensure families receive fresh, nourishing meals in the hours and days after a disaster. Support from our Climate Disaster Fund gives the WCK Relief Team the ability to solely focus on what is most important in an acute crisis: how can we get cooking to meet the needs of families who are hungry.

Days before Christmas, Super Typhoon Rai became the 15th—and strongest—typhoon to make landfall in the Philippines in 2021, affecting more than 4.2 million people and forcing over 300,000 people to evacuate their homes. WCK supported seven local groups to cook and distribute 1.4 million hot meals to impacted communities. This was the first time WCK responded in the Philippines, one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world where natural disasters are frequent, inevitable, and getting worse.

Super Typhoon Rai in the Philippines

Super Typhoon Rai

In just over 24 hours, an April 2022 storm brought 12 inches of rain, beating one-day rainfall totals from previous historic disasters in the KwaZulu-Natal Province on the eastern coast of South Africa. Rushing flood waters inundated and destroyed entire communities leaving people without a home, clean water, or electricity—the storm was the deadliest to hit since the 1987 Durban floods. Feedback from the community helped us determine that shelf-stable items were most useful for families in the weeks following the flooding so WCK partnered with a local organization to assemble and deliver 3,000 food kits.

Extreme rainfall in South Africa

Extreme rainfall

In late July 2022, eastern Kentucky was devastated by deadly flooding. WCK arrived shortly after, establishing a Relief Kitchen and spreading our team across the impacted areas. We served over 75,000 meals, provided produce boxes, and set up farmers markets in the four hard-hit counties. There are concerns that the area will continue to see more frequent and severe flooding—adding to an already vulnerable region where many do not have the means to move or protect their homes from high waters.

Deadly flooding in Eastern Kentucky

Deadly flooding

Our Commitment in Action

To meet the challenge of this moment, we need all hands on deck. Individuals, corporations, foundations — anyone can join our commitment.

WCK is building a community of monthly donors to help sustain our climate disaster work in the months and years to come. Any amount is a significant commitment to support communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

Join the effort

Explore More WCK Responses

With maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, 2022’s Hurricane Agatha is the strongest May hurricane to make landfall along Mexico’s Pacific coast since recording began in 1949.

Hurricane Agatha

Over the course of five months, WCK supported regional groups to provide food kits and cook nearly 200,000 fresh plates of food for families throughout the hard-hit areas in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.