World Central Kitchen Delivers More Than Food After Helene Hits North Carolina
STORY BY SAM GARRETT
During the first few days after Hurricane Helene, Banner Elk and Beech Mountain were only accessible by air. The same day the National Guard evacuated Lees-McRae College students from the area, World Central Kitchen (WCK) transported food into Banner Elk. One of many temporary FAA helicopter landing sites and staging areas for WCK to pick up food and supplies was Davant Field in Blowing Rock.
The word went out that 10-15 volunteers would be needed to quickly load food onto a helicopter; over 20 volunteers showed up.
Chef Jose Andres founded World Central Kitchen in 2010 as a response to the devastation and humanitarian crisis in Haiti. Chef Andres took a few minutes between the two trips from Blowing Rock to sit down and discuss the organization’s efforts in North Carolina.
Chef Andres arrived a few minutes behind schedule and immediately apologized. “We like to be on time. I apologize for being a few minutes late,” said Andres. “As we prepared to leave Asheville, the airspace became restricted because the President had arrived to assess the situation.”
Following the temporary restriction, the WCK crew received approval to proceed. Under normal circumstances, the airspace around Marine 1 is restricted and all other aircraft are grounded. WCK was granted an exception for performing disaster relief work.
It’s not just about food. We show up every day and ask what people need … a hot meal is needed but being there every day is more important.
- JOSE ANDRES
“Today, we will take two trips to drop food in Banner Elk and will deliver around 2,000 hot meals,” said Andres. “Since Saturday, we have delivered around 250,000.”
WGK served locations other than Banner Elk according to Andres. “I was in Burnsville this morning, went down to Asheville, came here to Blowing Rock to pick up food and we are delivering it to Banner Elk,” said Andres. “I have worked with the National Guard all over the country. I have never worked with a better group than the guard up here in North Carolina.”
Andres offered a profound insight into why food is so important for people affected by Hurricane Helene. “It’s not just about food,” said Andres. “We show up every day and ask what people need…a hot meal is needed but being there every day is more important.”
Getting to the disaster zones quickly is important to WCK. “We got to Florida less than eight hours after landfall,” said Andres. “We got to North Carolina less than 14 hours after the storm left.”
Since 2010, World Central Kitchen has provided more than 400 million meals around the world. The organization is currently responding to humanitarian crises in Gaza, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Florida, Israel, Lebanon, and Western North Carolina. t
