Donor Spotlights
Support from around the world helps ensure our Relief Team can act with urgency and serve meals to families impacted by disaster when and where they need them.
Diners Club International®: 75 Years of Changing the World, One Meal at a Time
In celebration of their 75th anniversary, Diners Club International® is collaborating with World Central Kitchen (WCK) empowering Clubmembers to support World Central Kitchen’s global mission of feeding those impacted by natural disasters and humanitarian crises. This campaign brings to life their Together for Change corporate social responsibility program, empowering Diners Club® Members to actively contribute to a worthy cause with every transaction.
A Day of Giving – On May 7, 2025, Diners Club will donate one meal to WCK for every purchase made with a Diners Club card, up to $750,000.
From One Meal to Millions
Just as one meal inspired the creation of Diners Club and revolutionized the payments industry, this effort aims to create a chain reaction of compassion. Every time a Clubmember uses their card on May 7, they’re not just making a purchase—they’re providing nourishment, comfort, and hope to someone in need. It’s a powerful reminder that generosity doesn’t always require grand gestures; sometimes, the simplest acts can have the most significant impact.
Diners Club’s commitment extends beyond borders, ensuring that the impact of the campaign is felt worldwide, aligning perfectly with WCK’s international reach in national disaster relief and humanitarian crises.
Feed Hope
We invite all Clubmembers to participate in this meaningful effort—one meal, one purchase at a time. By simply using your Diners Club card on May 7, you’ll donate one meal to emergency food relief.
Get Involved
Reach out to Tracy Ganti (Director, Corporation & Foundation Relations) at tganti@wck.org to learn how your organization can get involved and implement a cause-marketing campaign for your customers.
Community is our Superpower
In the first few months of 2025, numerous grassroots, chef-led, organizational, and small-group fundraisers sprang up to support World Central Kitchen’s work around the world.
Tiltify and Online Community Fundraisers
Tiltify hosted a telethon that united content creators with celebrities to aid wildfire relief. Actor Josh Brolin helped lead the live-streamed event, which raised significant funds for a coalition of charities, including World Central Kitchen. The event showcased the power of streaming as a tool for social impact, uniting audiences across the world in real time. Online platforms like Tiltify enable supporters to engage directly with fundraisers, fostering a sense of community and collective action.
Chefs in Chicago
Chefs are an integral part of WCK’s community and consistently step up to support our work.
When wildfires swept through the Los Angeles region, LA-born chef and WCK Chef Corps member Evan Funke sprang into action, assisting with our meal distribution on the ground. He also organized a plated charity dinner—“From Chicago, With Love”—bringing together renowned chefs, including Rick Bayless, Grant Achatz, Thai Dang, and Lee Wolen. All of the proceeds from the event were donated to World Central Kitchen, with a live auction raising an additional $50,000 beyond ticket sales.
A few weeks later, nine Chicago chefs, led by Chef and Chef Corps member Tony Priolo, hosted a 56-guest dinner at Piccolo Sogno, to support wildfire recovery. Each chef prepared one of nine-courses, which was followed by an exciting auction that included a private multi-chef dinner for 12. Thanks to the generosity of all involved, the event raised over $70,000, with all funds supporting WCKs ongoing relief efforts. Chef Priolo captured the spirit of the evening when he described Chicago’s chefs as, “always the first in line and ready to lend a helping hand.”
Relief Efforts in Los Angeles
In Beverly Hills, a benefit event called Chefs Love LA featured a nine-course dinner and wine pairing prepared by a group of acclaimed chefs. Hosted by food media personalities and organized by industry leaders, the evening raised over $850,000, with proceeds supporting WCK and Restaurants Care.
Many smaller LA community restaurants and bars also contributed to relief efforts. Friends & Family bakery in Silver Lake donated 100% of the proceeds from the sale of their whole-grain cinnamon rolls to families who lost their homes. Grassroots efforts like this raised thousands for World Central Kitchen, showcasing the impact of community support.
The Jarrín Foundation Golf Tournament
Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster, Jorge Jarrín, turned his family’s annual charity golf tournament into a platform for wildfire relief. The 4th Annual Jaime & Blanca Jarrín Foundation Golf Classic, held at San Gabriel Country Club, united sports heroes and entertainers to raise money for Southern California wildfire recovery. The tournament raised $20,000 for WCK’s work in LA.
Looking Ahead: Upcoming Events
On June 21-22, 2025, the 33rd annual Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle returns to DC with cooking demonstrations, live musical performances and dozens of the best pitmasters from across the country, all serving up competition-worthy BBQ. This year, the battle is proudly supporting WCK’s relief efforts with an exclusive WCK Restaurant Row, featuring six select restaurants, donating 20% of their proceeds from the entire weekend to support our efforts.
Use this special ticket link to purchase a WCK x Giant BBQ Battle ticket, with $5 from each ticket purchased through the link being donated directly to WCK. Visit BBQ in DC for more information.
Get Involved
Reach out to Matt Tripsas (Matthew@wck.org) to learn how you can bring your community together to support WCK or host a fundraising event.
WCK Donor Story – Jeanne and Nick Dowis
What inspired you to support World Central Kitchen?
As hurricane survivors we were so impressed by the response to Maria in Puerto Rico and to other storms in the Caribbean and the southern US. We were glad to see WCK respond immediately with comforting, nourishing food and human connections that are so needed just after a disaster. The Chef Corps and local community involvement with WCK in recovery efforts is a wonderful and sustainable response.
Is there a specific WCK activation or story that has resonated with you?
World Central Kitchen gets to the location and provides meals in response to disasters and crises within 24 hours, which is amazing. It is the quick response and the way the team empowers local people and partners to get involved immediately that is so impactful. Every activation is critical to the people who are being served, wherever they are.
What does giving back mean to you?
Everything. We are always working to maximize the impact our grant money can make. The Abram and Ray Kaplan Foundation was created specifically to provide grant funding for organizations who serve those in immediate need. We multiply our impact by offering matching grant challenges and backing sustainable projects at organizations we support.
If you could describe WCK’s impact in one word, what would it be?
Love. Love for our fellow humans, being demonstrated in the most basic way: a meal, prepared with care.
Anything else you’d like to share?
In our own experiences with hurricanes, living in Florida for 30 years-plus and seeing Hurricane Sandy devastate New York in 2012, we felt the lack of immediate needs being met on the ground was heartbreaking. Jeanne literally said, “It is going to take a big-time chef, with all the connections, to get people to mobilize to feed folks after a disaster like this again.” We looked to fund organizations that were responding and leaned into our work with food-providing partners. We learned about World Central Kitchen, active in the DC and surrounding areas, and saw you all expand and grow to respond to Maria and other hurricanes, then fires, then crises in the US and around the globe. Chef Andrés has been a great champion and leader in the work; the Chef Corps is proof that with passion and service, feeding multitudes can be a reality. We are so pleased to see this world-changing growth at your organization to meet real needs. We are ever-thankful that WCK is there, and will be there, with a meal and the comfort of community.
We are truly honored and deeply grateful to have Jeanne and Nick Dowis as part of our WCK community, and we cannot thank them enough for their unwavering support and commitment to our mission!
