WCK Chef Corps on the Ground in 2023
Chef Corps members raised their hands to join WCK’s relief team on the ground at several of our responses this year to help us provide hot, comforting meals to people who needed them most after crises. Hot temperatures, multi-leg flights, tent accommodations, long days, gargantuan pots—no obstacle was too big for those of you who stepped up to cook shoulder-to-shoulder with WCK team members and the local community. Just to name a few…
#ChefsForTürkiye
Chefs Olga Sorzano and Jamie McDonald
Chef Corps members Olga Sorzano and Jamie McDonald traveled to Türkiye after a series of catastrophic earthquakes shook both Türkiye and Syria in February. Olga was based in Antakya, one of the hardest-hit areas not far from the Syrian border while Jamie cooked inside our domed Deployable Kitchen Unit in Elbistan.
Left: Chef Olga in Antakya – Right: Chef Jamie in Elbistan
#ChefsForHawaii
Chef Peter Abarcar Jr.
While most of WCK’s work following devastating blazes in Hawaiʻi late this summer was focused on Maui, fires also scorched hundreds of acres of land on Hawaiʻi’s Big Island, destroying homes and forcing evacuations. When the call for help was put out, WCK Chef Corps member Peter Abarcar Jr. immediately jumped into action, preparing local seared fish and veggies for fire crews working to extinguish hotspots on the island.
Chef Peter on Hawaiʻi’s Big Island
#ChefsForArmenia
Chef Aline Kamakian
During the last week of September, Azerbaijan seized the entirety of Nagorno-Karabakh—a disputed region in the South Caucasus that is also called Artsakh. As a result, tens of thousands of people fled into Armenia to escape the increased hostilities. First arriving in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, these families dispersed throughout the rest of the country to stay with relatives and friends. With ties to the region, Chef Corps member Aline Kamakian arrived on the ground ahead of WCK’s response and helped guide our work in the country. Hear her story.
Chef Aline with WCK’s Juan Camilo
#ChefsForMexico
Chef Luis Martinez
Asheville-based Chef Corps member Luis Martinez joined the WCK Relief Kitchen in Acapulco, Mexico in November. WCK responded after what started as a tropical depression in the Pacific Ocean quickly turned into Category-5 Hurricane Otis that hit the coast, slamming into Acapulco and smaller communities nearby.
Chef Luis Martinez in Mexico
#ChefsForTennessee
Chefs Betty and Paul Brennen
When tornadoes touched down in Tennessee in December, Nashville-based Chef Corps member Paul Brennen and his mother, Betty Brennen, joined our Relief Kitchen at a high school in Clarksville where they prepared warming meals like chicken pot pie. This is the second time WCK responded to tornadoes in Tennessee this year. Back in April, Memphis-based Chef Corps members Amanda and David Krog made sure meals prepared by the local community made their way to families in Wynne.
Chefs Betty and Paul Brennen in Clarksville
WCK’s Chef Corps is a global network of culinary leaders who champion World Central Kitchen’s work providing fresh meals following crises.
