One million meals and counting in New Orleans
In response to the COVID-19 crisis, WCK’s team in New Orleans has been getting fresh, nourishing meals out to the community since April. The dishes we are providing for residents are powered by 30 incredible, local restaurants. In the city lovingly known as the “Big Easy,” restaurants have been hit especially hard by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Without large summer festivals and events, the popular tourist city has suffered and many restaurants have struggled to keep their doors open.
Linda Green—owner of The Ya-Ka-Mein Lady and third generation chef—relies heavily on large festivals like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for her catering business. With these events cancelled and tourism essentially at a halt, Ms. Linda’s business was in trouble.When WCK connected with Ms. Linda, we learned that she was no stranger to food relief; after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she cooked meals to feed and support local musicians in New Orleans. The Ya-Ka-Mein Lady quickly became a part of WCK’s Restaurants for the People program, which hires restaurants to provide meals to families in need, people experiencing homeless, as well as for local organizations distributing food directly into the community.
In addition to supporting local restaurants, World Central Kitchen relies on a network of community organizations like CultureAidNOLA, HandsOn, Crescentcity.com, and NOLA Tree Project, to distribute many of the delicious restaurant meals to those most in need.
NOLA Tree Project distributes 3,500 WCK meals each week, cooked up by four of our local restaurants. The organization helps to fill the needs of seniors and families experiencing food insecurity, including people not receiving government assistance. While NOLA Tree Project began as an effort surrounding trees following Hurricane Katrina, they have grown to now assist with recovery projects of all kinds. Volunteers Olivia & Zoe have joined the efforts and always have a good time distributing meals with us!
In addition to volunteers distributing meals at grab-and-go sites, we have help from people who directly deliver meals to residents in need. Rayne oversees delivery drivers with the organization HandsOn— ensuring 425 senior families are cared for, providing them with 1,500 fresh, restaurant meals. Karen & Elizabeth are two of the amazing volunteer delivery drivers!
Through our continued partnership with HandsOn, WCK has been able to utilize the space at KIPP Booker T. Washington High School over the past few months. From this site alone, more than 445,000 meals have been packed and distributed.
Cafe Reconcile is a WCK restaurant partner, providing 750 weekly meals to different organizations. Cafe Reconcile’s workforce development program offers on-site training to future chefs and hospitality workers, enabling students to learn while providing meals to local nonprofits. Faith, an alum of Cafe Reconcile’s training program, volunteered with HandsOn and helped get those meals into the hands of families in the community.
To date, WCK has served more 1 million meals in New Orleans. For up-to-date information, follow us on Instagram and Twitter.
