WCK Earns Two Anthem Awards for Innovative Work in Gaza
Since October 2023, World Central Kitchen has distributed more than 75 million meals in Gaza to families impacted by escalating conflict in the region. Conditions in Gaza have become increasingly unpredictable, and our teams are working to adapt our response to ensure we can continue providing nourishing meals to communities in need. We are honored to earn two Gold Anthem Awards for our efforts in the Middle East: one for our innovative stoves in Gaza, and one for our humanitarian aid to Gaza by air, land, and sea.
The awards seek to amplify the voices that spark global change and define a new benchmark for impactful work that inspires others to take action in their communities. “Driving communications at World Central Kitchen means having privilege and responsibility every day to bring incredible stories to life for our audiences,” said Linda Roth, WCK’s Chief Communications Officer.
Innovative Stoves
WCK teams in Gaza are working hard to support communities across Gaza despite the logistical challenges—the lack of available cooking fuel on the ground is one of these obstacles. This led WCK, with the help of Palestinian team members and local manufacturers in Egypt, to develop purpose-built stoves that use wood pellets as fuel and solar-powered fans to stoke the flames. These stoves have become lifelines for Palestinians, helping people safely and reliably cook for themselves.
Leading Humanitarian Aid to Gaza by Air, Land, and Sea
Since October, World Central Kitchen has been calling for more access points to Gaza to open for humanitarian aid. Alongside local and international partners, we are working to ensure as much food as possible reaches communities facing starvation.
WCK has participated in several airdrops of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza in partnership with the air forces of several countries. In an airdrop in March alongside the Royal Jordanian Air Force, we provided 52,700 meals, totaling 15 tons of aid, to Palestinian families in war-torn communities. WCK and our founder José Andrés have been tirelessly pushing to establish faster, more reliable entry for food aid going to Gaza. Access of aid into northern Gaza is extremely limited and airdrops offer a lifeline to families on the brink of famine. “Food airdrops are a short, temporary, but powerful way to deliver some food to the north,” said José.
On November 15, 2024, WCK trucks were able to travel to deliver desperately needed supplies into northern Gaza for the first time in 10 weeks. Our long-time partner on the ground, Anera, used these supplies to assemble family-sized food kits that were distributed to communities of displaced Palestinians from Jabalia, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun.
Our teams across the region also worked nonstop for months with the support of the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus to open a maritime aid route into Gaza. We sourced and loaded food onto boats in Cyprus and built our own jetty in Gaza using rubble, including from bombed buildings, to safely unload cargo. Our first maritime aid shipment provided almost 200 tons of food to communities in northern Gaza—this was the first humanitarian shipment to reach the Gazan coast in nearly two decades.
Learn more from Anthem here.
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