One of the things I most admire about World Central Kitchens is how, when they encounter a problem on the ground, they spend their time working on a solution instead of complaining about the difficulty or obstacle.

“Since early October, families in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon have been reeling from devastating conflict that has caused profound loss of life and forced millions of people to flee their homes,” says WCK. “Innocent families are caught in the middle of the volatile situation. Our teams are committed to providing aid to anyone who needs it and are continuously adapting our response to reach more people.”

For example, to solve the problem of a lack of cooking fuel WCK developed a new design for clean cooking stoves that use wood pellets as fuel and fans to stoke the flames. Local manufacturers in Egypt produce the stoves, which are brought into Gaza along with food supplies and other kitchen equipment – 750 so far. The stoves are now being used by Palestinian volunteers and chefs in the Rafah Field Kitchen to cook thousands of hot meals each day.

As of Jan. 24, 2024, WCK had served 22 million meals in Gaza, dispatched over 800 trucks and set up 27 kitchens. Its.work in Gaza is centered around its Field Kitchen in the city of Rafah, where many Palestinians have fled as refugees. 

Getting aid into Gaza has been a complex logistical challenge. The WCK team in Egypt has created a system that maximizes the efficiency and usefulness of each of the 20 or so WCK aid trucks that cross into Gaza each day.

“We have dedicated trucks that are designed and compiled in a way to set up a fully operational kitchen and start cooking for 1,845 people per day,” says Nelly, one of WCK’s logistics staff in Egypt. This community kitchen truck includes WCK’s newly designed stoves, as well as cooking equipment and food, so local teams who receive these trucks have everything they need to begin feeding families in their area.

Trained volunteers help get the community kitchens operational as quickly as possible. Nine of these kitchens are up and running with seven more soon to cook their first meals. “The team is training the warehouse managers on how to report back on inventory levels and restocking needs so the supply chain team can better prepare,” said Fiona, WCK’s Director of Relief Operations. 

WCK is continuing to innovate. Its teams are working on a design for a new ready-to-eat meal kit that will have revised ingredients and enough food to feed a family for four days at a time, packed into reusable canvas totes that families can use again and again. The teams are also connecting with vendors in Egypt to get canned chicken and canned eggs so WCK can deliver more shelf-stable animal protein in coming weeks.

While WCK hopes there will be a humanitarian solution before Ramadan starts in March, the culinary team has finalized the ingredients for special boxes that will be ready for Ramadan.

Israel

In Israel, WCK is focused on meeting the needs of communities impacted by rocket attacks and of people like seniors unable to leave their homes or cook for themselves. Its local partners are providing support in the form of thousands of hot meals and meal kits, as well as hundreds of produce boxes for people who are able to cook.

The Community Outreach Team, which is closely monitoring the impacted region, are seeing emergency food needs decrease as markets and other businesses reopen and families have access to food and the ability to cook for themselves. As local organizations are able to provide support to communities at risk of rocket attacks, WCK expects to wind down its efforts in Israel..

“WCK has played a pivotal role over the past three months to meet emergency food needs, and the people of Israel have been extraordinarily grateful,” said Fiona. Still, through the network of restaurants and local partners we built since first arriving, we are ready to scale our response in the country if the need arises once more.

Lebanon

Bombing continues on the Israel-Lebanon border and is expected to intensify amid fears that conflict will expand further across the region. Despite high levels of displacement among Lebanese communities near the border, no official aid is being provided by local authorities. As a result, WCK and our partners, along with other NGOs and volunteer groups, are working to provide thousands of meals daily to families forced to flee their homes.

Sources:

Innovation drives WCK’s work in Gaza. World Central Kitchen, Jan. 11 2024

World Central Kitchen reaches milestone, serving 22 million meals in Gaza Good, Good, Good, Jan. 24 2024

Cover image and all photos: World Central Kitchen