In mid-December, Cyclone Chido made landfall along Mayotte, a small overseas French department in the Indian Ocean, as a Category 4 storm with winds up to 225 km/h (140 mph). Considered to be the most powerful storm to strike Mayotte in the past century, Chido destroyed 90% of the island’s structures and tragically claimed the lives of at least dozens of local residents. WCK’s team activated local response and food networks, surveyed the damage, and scouted the food support needs of the hardest-hit communities. As WCK began scaling up our daily cooking capacities to meet the immense needs of impacted communities, our Relief Teams prioritized serving meals to families living in bangas, make-shift cities comprised largely of undocumented citizens and informal structures. Families living in Mayotte’s bangas were the most vulnerable to Cyclone Chido’s destruction, and a large portion of local residents saw their homes completely destroyed and access to power and fresh drinking water disrupted.
To help maximize the reach and impact of our emergency food relief on Mayotte—while simultaneously boosting the regional economy—WCK partnered with 90+ local restaurants and food suppliers. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with our network of local partners, WCK served nourishing meals to impacted families at nearly 300 distribution sites across the island. Accessing the island was one of the biggest hurdles our teams faced. With air traffic limited—as the main airport was heavily damaged—WCK pivoted to maritime support to help scale relief operations. We chartered a vessel in nearby Kenya to ferry by sea over 1 million meals of food in two deliveries, one in December and the second in February, containing items such as fresh produce, canned goods, and frozen proteins. A video of our vessel is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2pT7wjQAc0.
In total, WCK—working alongside our strong network of local partners—served more than 4 million meals to families affected by Cyclone Chido.
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WCK is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. When disaster strikes, WCK’s Relief Team mobilizes to the frontlines with the urgency of now to start cooking and provide meals to people in need. By partnering with organizations on the ground and activating a network of food trucks or emergency kitchens, WCK provides freshly made, nutritious meals to communities impacted by disasters quickly and effectively. We know that good food provides not only nourishment, but also comfort and hope, especially in times of crisis.
WCK has provided more than 450 million fresh, nourishing meals for communities around the world. Your donation today will be used to support our emergency food relief efforts.
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