WCK on the ground after Hurricane Ida devastates Louisiana
Hurricane Ida hit the United States Gulf Coast on Sunday afternoon as a powerful Category 4 hurricane. With sustained winds of up to 150 MPH, the storm left more than 1 million people without power – most of the city of New Orleans is currently in the dark. Other resources like gasoline are hard to come by.
The WCK Relief Team arrived ahead of the hurricane, staging in both New Orleans and Lafayette to be ready to get cooking as soon as the storm passed. When the path of Ida shifted slightly east, the WCK Team upped our capacity with more team members in New Orleans just ahead of the hurricane making landfall.
While it was still safe to be out on Sunday morning, the WCK team built a quick sandwich line, making hundreds of ham and cheese sandwiches with a special sauce to deliver to shelters caring for unhoused residents throughout the storm.
After safely hunkering down during the storm, the WCK Relief Team got up early Monday morning to make more sandwiches and begin hot meal prep for lunch. We set up our Relief Food Truck and Chef Mollie led the team cooking a delicious penne pasta bolognese topped with parmesan and fresh parsley.
On the first day following the storm, we served hot lunches and dinners to first responders, shelters, and impacted neighborhoods in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Additionally, Chef José and the team took trays of hot meals, sandwiches, and fresh fruit to the city of Houma – right where the eye of the hurricane passed over. These smaller communities west of New Orleans were hit hard, and today, the WCK team will be expanding capacity to get more meals into the most impacted neighborhoods.
The situation here is quickly evolving – for the latest information on our relief operations, follow WCK on Twitter,Instagram, andFacebook.
