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.

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.

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.