100 Million Meals Served: A look back at how WCK built the largest food relief operation in Ukraine
We are just several days away from it being five months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, displacing millions of people, claiming tens of thousands of lives, and destroying thousands of buildings and entire communities. But these numbers only partially convey what the Ukrainian people have had to endure. Refugees fleeing—primarily women, children, and seniors—have embarked on long and arduous journeys, waiting up to 72 hours before crossing the border to safety. People remaining in Ukraine are living through the trauma of constant shelling and the threat of uncertainty as more and more residential areas are targeted seemingly at random.
As the situation has unfolded, the war in Ukraine has also become a war on food. Activity at ports and borders has been disrupted, straining the food supply that feeds not only Ukraine, but the world. Since activating almost five months ago, WCK food cargo trains, and restaurant and farm partners, have been hit by missiles. Still, every single day thousands of WCK’s Ukrainian Food Fighters show up to provide nourishing meals and food aid to families remaining in the country. Today, these incredible teams served their 100 millionth meal in response to invasion.
A message from WCK’s Chef José Andrés
Immediately following the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, a majority of refugees fled to Poland, crossing the border at all hours of the night in freezing cold temperatures. Within hours, WCK’s Sam arrived in Medyka—a village on the Poland-Ukrainian border—to welcome families with hot, comforting meals. In less than a week, we set up meal distributions at all eight border crossings in Poland, eventually operating 24/7 with a focus on serving hot soups, tea, coffee, and hot cocoa.
Five days after the invasion, José and several members of the Relief Team entered Ukraine for the first time, delivering food to families who were waiting for hours to cross on the Ukrainian side of the border. Meanwhile, WCK support had already begun within Ukraine as we were remotely working with restaurants in five cities cooking for neighbors in need.
During this time, WCK teams were also expanding our efforts in other countries where refugees were fleeing. In Romania, we brought a food trailer to serve meals along the border and soon were delivering thousands of restaurant meals to shelters, refugee camps, and transportation centers. To date, WCK and 57 partners have served 1.26 million meals at 121 recipient locations in Romania.
WCK’s first meals in Moldova were provided to families, many with young children, at the Chișinău Airport. We then expanded quickly to support border crossings and shelters housing hundreds of people. Moldova is a largely agricultural economy with a majority of exports going to Ukraine which has halted due to the war. To support farmers, producers, and in return Ukrainians in need of food, José coordinated with USAID to purchase fresh fruit that we then transported across the border.
https://twitter.com/PowerUSAID/status/1525194790861557760?s=20&t=MnHKe5EsyMY0UI2jhclXFg
Przemyśl—a city close to the border in southeastern Poland—immediately started receiving many refugee families when Russia first invaded Ukraine in February. Since arriving in Poland, we have been serving nourishing meals at shelters and the train station in Przemyśl, where families go to reach the next destination in their journey to safety. Two weeks into our response, we quickly scaled up efforts, building a Relief Kitchen to be able to prepare meals at scale. Utilizing 12 massive WCK paella pans and 12 large ovens, volunteers from all over the world have come to help us prepare and serve thousands of daily meals including hot dishes, salads, soups, fresh fruit, baby food, and freshly baked cakes.
Because so many families have fled to Poland, we built up our efforts, setting up ‘cafes’ at border crossings so people can sit down and relax while enjoying meals—and during the colder days keep warm with heaters. As refugees went on to other parts of the country, either settling in Warsaw or Krakow, or heading farther west, we set up multiple distribution points at bus and train stations to meet people with a comforting plate or travel bag during their long journeys. In Warsaw, we supported local partners to provide fresh food while thousands of people waited in line for a PESEL registration at the National Stadium. Together with 112 local partners, we have served over 11.5 million meals in Poland alone.
Just two hours across the Polish border, Lviv serves as a humanitarian hub for refugees within Ukraine—at one point there were more than 200,000 displaced people from eastern Ukraine staying here. WCK’s Relief Team worked to get bulk distribution centers set up—shipments of meat, fresh produce, and dry goods like rice and bulgur were then distributed to local partners cooking and further east into Ukrainian cities like Odesa, Mykolaiv, Zolochiv, and Kyiv. As attacks increased in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and more cities across the country, we onboarded additional restaurant partners to serve as many people as we could.
By the end of March, our support of refugees outside Ukraine expanded to two more countries—Hungary and Spain—bringing our #ChefsForUkraine response to six countries in total. In one month, WCK Food Fighters were providing 250,000 comforting meals every day, with more than 3.5 million millions served so far.
In Hungary, we focused on providing meals at two major transit hubs and nearby shelters. The Zahony train station was the first stop where many families departing from Kyiv arrived before transferring to other locations like Budapest. Between long wait times and often delayed trains, many people had not eaten in 24-36 hours, so our partners quickly mobilized to provide nourishing meals. As the days went on, many families began to return home to Ukraine and our team saw the surge of people crossing rapidly decrease.
Setting up our WCK Food Truck outside the social security office in Madrid, we began providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner to refugees completing paperwork to remain in Spain. Across many more cities, we’re supporting churches and hotels hosting families, hospitals, and refugee reception centers.
On March 31, WCK meal service extended to six cities in Slovakia where we distributed to transportation centers and border crossings. Our Relief Team also provided travel bags filled with goodies for kids to take on the train. Out of a makeshift kitchen, hundreds of daily plates were prepared and then delivered one hour away to our reception center in Košice. The reception center saw many refugees who had begun to settle in the area, as well as families resting before the next train arrived.
At the same time as our teams in bordering countries were ramping up support, WCK’s response within Ukraine was evolving fast—the capital city of Kyiv and surrounding towns were liberated after a month of Russian occupation, so we began to bring fresh meals and food product to communities starting to recover. In early April, after weeks of sheltering in cold basements with no fresh food, water, and electricity, José and the team were the first new faces many had seen, bringing with them hundreds of hot meals and 6,000 kilos of food for families to cook. Returning each day, we reached more liberated communities like Borodyanka and Hostomel. Further north of Kyiv in Chernihiv, we partnered with a local bakery while the city was still under occupation helping them increase production by 10 times. Following the withdrawal of troops, the fear of missiles and strangers kept many families living below ground. Together with neighbors and trusted loved ones, WCK delivered meals with friendly smiles to doors and windows.
When Russian forces retreated from Kyiv, they then shifted focus and increased attacks in eastern Ukraine. We ramped up our support, delivering tens of thousands of daily meals in Kharkiv and the surrounding region to bomb shelters, hospitals, churches, seniors, and people trapped on the front lines. In Zaporzhzhia and Dnipro, we sent food and mobilized restaurants to cook for shelters, hospitals, and train stations. Many refugees in Zaporzhzhia were arriving from the devastated city of Mariupol and nearby occupied cities in the Donbas. Most families escaping from Mariupol come by private vehicle which are often damaged from the dangerous journey out.
At this point with our local partners, we were providing hot meals and delivering thousands of tons of food by truck and train in more than 30 cities and towns within Ukraine, including eastern communities in Derhachi, Sumy, and Trostyanets where residents had nowhere to go and no access to food. In an effort to get critical aid into Kramatorsk, a city in the northern portion of the Donetsk region that was bracing for possible attacks, our team sent as much food in as we could. While preparing to set up a distribution center to support the nearly 8,000 people who were escaping by train each day, the station was attacked, tragically killing more than 50 people, including young children. Still, our brave local partners continued to get critical food aid into the city, helping families now leaving by bus and the many residents unable to leave—primarily seniors.
Unfortunately, the attack in Kramatorsk was not the first or last time civilians have been targeted by Russian forces. On April 16, WCK restaurant partner Yaposhka was destroyed when a missile hit Kharkiv. Yaposhka is one of the hundreds of restaurants that bring WCK’s Chefs for Ukraine work to life—preparing thousands of meals for Ukrainians in shelters, hospitals, transit stations, and more. And although faced with the first-hand horrors of war, the team at Yaposhka—including four injured staff—had no other desire but to keep cooking. As the wounded recovered in the hospital, the rest of the Yaposhka team moved all food product and non-damaged equipment to another kitchen location in Kharkiv. Previously, a missile hit about 500 yards away from their business, and some days the team cooked in the dark while hearing planes attacking up above. Despite all of this and sleeping in bomb shelters, staff at Yaposhka show up every day with a smile, ready to cook for neighbors in need. The bravery shown by WCK’s restaurant partners, delivery drivers, and warehouse managers is truly incredible.
Both in Ukraine and the countries where we were supporting refugees, WCK continued to expand our efforts and bring a sense of comfort and hope to people in need. We supported a volunteer-run safe, welcoming, and nurturing community space for Ukrainians in Leipzig, Germany where we began serving meals on April 19.
Despite the ongoing war, Ukrainian resilience and morale remains strong—it is an inspiration to witness. Our teams care deeply about helping families maintain traditions and bring joy to innocent young lives with special meals. Celebrating Easter and Passover, WCK teams across Ukraine, Poland, and beyond prepared holiday meals, sweet treats, and painted eggs. In addition to meals, WCK partner Vortutai in Odesa prepared more than 2,000 Easter cakes. Cooking every day the team said, “Hunger has no days off. If we don’t feed the people, no one will. It’s our duty.“ Menu items at our Relief Kitchen in Przemyśl included brisket and matzo ball soup!
While delivering 2,500 grocery kits in the Chernihiv region, we met families celebrating Vyshyvanka Day. Recognized on the third Thursday of May, the national holiday aims to honor and preserve folk traditions by having people wear vyshyvanka—an embroidered shirt seen as an important symbol in Ukrainian culture.
June 1 is International Children’s Day and WCK teams celebrated by hosting events across the country for kids just to be kids. We provided fresh meals, sweet treats, music, dancing, and custom coloring books!
On a more personal level, WCK’s Nate joined Bogdan in celebration of his 24th birthday. Nate first met Bogdan and his mom Lyudmila in May while delivering food kits in Bucha. They survived the occupation by hiding in a small basement under their house; however, Bogdan, who has cerebral palsy and is a championship wheelchair racer, was still injured after a burning fragment fell into the basement and landed directly on his back. Bodgan and Lyudmila lost everything including his walker. Returning to share a meal and celebrate his birthday in June, Nate and the WCK team brought a cake and gifted Bogdan a new laptop. We’re also helping provide a new walker.
In many places, especially towns that were previously under Russian occupation, families are able to cook but are struggling with access to ingredients. Operating out of WCK warehouses, we meet this need by packing grocery kits containing 30 pounds of products such as flour, salt, pasta, oil, cheese, produce, canned meats, and more! What began as a few warehouses sending product out of Lviv, has grown into a vast network of warehouses across Ukraine—to date, we have transported over 35 million pounds of food. Each day, our regional teams in places like Odesa, Dnipro, and Mykolaiv receive, assemble, and deliver tens of thousands of food kits to community locations—often traveling long distances and through difficult circumstances. Between freshly prepared hot meals, sandwiches, and food kits, the WCK team is now delivering 1.7 million meals every single day. In some instances, WCK delivery teams are also helping residents evacuate areas under attack.
When possible, the Relief Team has also been delivering pet food to people caring for animals. In Kharkiv, we brought food for animals and staff at the main animal shelter and largest veterinary clinic still operating.
As we continued to build the largest food relief operation in Ukraine, sending trucks, trains, passenger cars, and vans across hundreds of cities and towns, WCK’s Relief Team began to coordinate long-term support. In Lviv, where temporary homes have been built for refugee families, we have a meal voucher program where people can walk to a nearby cafeteria to receive a free meal at any time, choosing the food they want. In eastern cities like Kharkiv, we have established social restaurants—these locations allow families to get dressed up to meet others and share a meal together in community. In Irpin, a formerly occupied city near Kyiv, many families returned to homes that are no longer inhabitable. A Railway City has been set up to house families utilizing train cars that now serve as bedrooms, a cafeteria, and more. WCK brings hot meals from nearby restaurants for these families.
June 3 marked 100 days since Russian troops invaded Ukraine, forever changing the lives of millions of people. It was also 99 days since WCK’s #ChefsForUkraine began cooking. Across Ukraine and surrounding countries, Food Fighters were distributing nearly one million meals each day during this time, and now we have surpassed that number, providing over 1.7 million daily meals via hot plates of food and grocery kits.
On July 24, children, seniors, and families will have experienced five grueling months of being under attack. The situation has improved in some areas—and many have returned home after initially fleeing—but the country remains under constant threat. In eastern Ukraine, a WCK train packed with meat, fruit, and vegetables was hit by a missile on June 15. Fortunately no one was hurt and the majority of the food was salvageable. Brave staff at Ukrainian Railways made repairs immediately to ensure evacuation trains and our product could keep moving.
The last month has seen an increase in random attacks on purely civilian targets, many happening hours away from the frontlines of the war. Our Relief Teams operating across the country have responded following these horrific acts to support the communities going through the unimaginable. In central Ukraine, missiles hit four residential buildings in Mykolaiv killing two people and injuring dozens (June 17). A Russian missile strike led to a large-scale fire at an industrial facility in Mykolayiv and it took hours to extinguish the blaze (June 23). An apartment building in Kyiv was hit, injuring many and displacing families. Rescuers worked tirelessly searching for survivors (June 26). The next day, families going about their day at a shopping mall in Kremenchuk were victims of another attack, killing at least 20 residents (June 27). Again an apartment building was targeted, this time in Odesa, killing 21 people—including a 12 year old child (July 1). In the city center of Drujkivka in the Donetsk region, a big missile attack left massive destruction—a supermarket was demolished (July 9). In one of the worst attacks on residents, at least 48 people were killed in an apartment building in Chasiv Yar; people were being pulled from the rubble hours after the attack (July 13). The central city of Vinnytsia, where our team already serves thousands of refugees every day, was hit, killing three children and an estimated total of 22 people (July 14).
As the world witnesses these evil attacks against innocent families, WCK’s team in Ukraine continues to do everything possible to be there as fast as we can in the aftermath with food and water. Each time, our local teams have quickly mobilized to serve first responders and affected families. Following the mall attack in Kremenchuk, we set up food tents to allow rescue teams to take a break from the incredibly hard work to sit down and eat a meal. Kharkiv has been under constant attack, so to be prepared to respond, we have a special WCK partner restaurant that is always ready to step in and help.
With the situation in many eastern cities intensifying and needs outside Ukraine subsiding, we’re scaling down our efforts in neighboring countries to focus on ramping up our response for the most vulnerable families. Working with the thousands of WCK team members across Ukraine, we will continue to reach as many people in need of hot meals and grocery kits as we can.
WCK envisions—and continues to hope for—a world where we would not have to respond to senseless violence under these circumstances, but we are beyond grateful to stand alongside more than 4,300 brave Food Fighters who work tirelessly to ensure anyone in need is met with a hot meal. It is because of all the WCK team members, volunteers, and global community of supporters that our efforts in Ukraine and in eight neighboring countries have been made possible. Thank you.
