WCK serving thousands of meals to Louisiana communities—some still in the dark
On August 29, Hurricane Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, about 40 miles southwest of New Orleans, as a powerful Category 4 hurricane. As Ida moved across Louisiana, flood damage and sustained winds of up to 150 MPH have left communities devastated with limited resources. Initial power outages affected over 1 million residents and lasted for several days—in New Orleans electricity is nearly restored, however, many hard-hit communities still remain in the dark.
To prepare for Ida’s landfall, the WCK Relief Team arrived ahead of the storm, setting up operations at the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute (NOCHI). Now with two food trucks, two kitchens in NOCHI, and the support of restaurant partners, WCK has served over 25,000 meals a day to more than 100 locations in New Orleans and neighboring communities.
In New Orleans, WCK partnered with the city and local organizations to provide hot meals and fresh fruit across 14 locations in the city. Some sites also served as cooling centers with air conditioning in the summer heat, and distribution centers for necessities such as food and water.
While power was still out across the city, the Relief Team made sure to bring meals to people who could not reach meal pickup sites. In New Orleans East, we drove our WCK Relief Food truck to provide hot plates to local families. Once the kitchen closed for the day, José also drove around the city, illuminated by taillights, to deliver food and fruit to people in need, many who were unhoused residents bearing the hot summer heat in the streets and parking lots.
For communities outside of New Orleans where the eye of the hurricane passed and power is still out, the Relief Team has been delivering daily meals by both car and boat. We began by bringing food to people sheltering at a local inn and first responders in the city of Houma. WCK’s Houma response has now grown to include daily deliveries to La Alianza de Trabajadores de Marisco y Pescado, a group providing support for undocumented immigrants working in the local fishing industry, and the United Houma Nation.
In Crown Point, where flood waters inundated a majority of the community, José joined locals to bring jambalaya, sandwiches & water to people stuck at home. Just south of Crown Point, communities in Barataria and Lafitte have been left isolated as Hurricane Ida destroyed the only bridge connecting both communities to the mainland. Working with Cajun Navy Relief, WCK is ferrying nourishing meals and fresh fruit to families in these hard-hit areas.
Outside of Jefferson Parish, WCK is delivering hot plates to St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, Lafourche Parishes, and Bayou communities; across several locations, the Relief Team is working with local partners to serve food at distribution sites where community members are also packaging and delivering meals to other affected areas. A majority of power has been restored in New Orleans and long term recovery efforts are underway so WCK is shifting our focus to serve meals in the surrounding hard-hit areas where power is not expected to return until later this month.
With classes set to resume at NOCHI, WCK is transitioning to cook from our two food trucks where we are preparing over 10,000 hot meals a day and fresh salads! Additionally, WCK is supporting local restaurants that are back up and running to provide meals for River Parishes and Bayou communities in need. Many of the restaurants have been long standing WCK partners since our #ChefsForAmerica Covid response program began in the spring of 2020.
To date, WCK has provided over 325,000 comforting meals to first responders and communities impacted by Hurricane Ida. The Relief Team continues to monitor the situation and is prepared to respond to arising emergencies.
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