From Texas to Ukraine to Bangladesh, WCK Responds on 4 Continents
100 Days in Ukraine: WCK now providing nearly 1 million meals per day
Friday marked 100 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, forever changing the lives of millions of families. WCK’s Relief Team in Ukraine and neighboring countries continues to serve hundreds of thousands of fresh meals each day. We also distribute food kits by the tens of thousands—each containing enough ingredients to feed a family for about a week. All together, across 290 cities and towns, WCK is distributing close to 1 million meals every single day.
This week, the WCK team celebrated International Children’s Day by hosting events across Ukraine, creating a space for kids just to be kids. We provided fresh meals, sweet treats, music, dancing, and custom coloring books for children attending the festivities!
Comforting Meals in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX
Horrific gun violence has shaken the United States over the past month. In Buffalo, New York, ten Black people were murdered in a racist attack at a grocery store and in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children and two teachers were murdered at an elementary school just days before summer break.
The shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo closed the community’s only grocery store, making access to fresh food difficult for families already in distress. Working with Buffalo Chef Darian Bryan, we began serving hot meals near the store — as well as distributing fresh produce for families to take home.
While distributing meals in the days following the attack, our team met Carlton, a deli department employee at Tops market. When the shooting began, he grabbed his coworkers and they locked themselves in a walk-in cooler to hide.
In Uvalde, Texas, the WCK team arrived immediately to set up a meal distribution site for families grieving in this tight-knit community of about 15,000 people. In addition to providing hot meals, we served cupcakes, snow cones, smoothies, and cold fruit to kids — anything we could do to bring some hope and love during this tragic time.
WCK Activates for Hurricanes, Heavy Rains & Flooding
The Eastern Pacific’s first hurricane of the year made landfall on the coast of Mexico early this week as a powerful category 2 storm. Hurricane Agatha brought sustained winds of 105 mph before hitting the beach town of Puerto Ángel in the state of Oaxaca, leaving many communities with no water, power, or ability to communicate. WCK’s Relief Team arrived immediately after the storm to begin bringing food to impacted families.
Reaching communities with limited resources, we are delivering ingredients for families in Santa María Tonameca to prepare food for neighbors recovering from the storm. We have also loaded a helicopter full of sandwiches and fruit to deliver as we check on areas cut off from communications in the mountains. Meanwhile, our team is partnering with local restaurants to help cook for people displaced following the flooding.
In northeast Bangladesh, the lives of more than four million people have been disrupted by severe pre-monsoon rains. They damaged homes and crops, leaving families unable to cook and creating food shortages. More than 1.5 million children are now at an increased risk of malnutrition.
Together with local partners, WCK began by serving over 3,000 hot meals to children and families around the city of Sylhet. Our partners are also assembling food kits containing items like rice, potatoes, oil, and salt, which are now being distributed to 13,000 households.
Torrential rains in the northeastern state of Pernambuco, Brazil brought deadly floods and landslides over the weekend. Local groups are providing aid at shelters and churches in the capital city of Recife so WCK turned our focus to serving thousands of hot meals across six hard-to-reach areas in need of assistance. Two women-owned kitchens are making meals. One is a new restaurant that, with our support, was able to purchase new equipment and expand its capacity. WCK is the only international nonprofit on the ground and we’ll continue to assist local groups as the community recovers.
To keep up with the latest from Ukraine, Mexico, Bangladesh, Brazil, and more, follow WCK on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
