It's not just Texas that faced the impact of harsh winter storms that swept across the southern United States – Jackson, Mississippi is now entering its 5th week without safe drinking water. And until last week, families had no running water at all in their homes.
The WCK team arrived in early March to support Jackson residents with both drinkable water, and fresh meals prepared by local restaurants. We partnered with community groups and Jackson Public Schools to set up distribution sites across the city.
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The lines of cars start early across Jackson – sometimes hours before WCK distribution sites open, as families have no other option to get safe water. Many aren't able to cook due to the crisis, so each day our restaurant partners prepare and deliver thousands of nutritious meals, which families can take home along with the water.
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Nick Wallace Culinary is preparing comforting meals for families including harissa chicken, fried brown rice, and fresh veggies. Chef Nick has been cooking for over 20 years, and has his own nonprofit – Creativity Kitchen – working with elementary schools to improve their cafeteria menus and educate kids about nutrition.
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WCK’s Derrick drops off water each day at locations across Jackson, including housing complexes and elementary schools. This is Bates Elementary, where the kids were very excited to see him!
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Over the last few weeks, working alongside the city of Jackson, Jackson Public Schools, Councilmember Aaron Banks, and other local partners, WCK has served over 16,000 freshly prepared meals and nearly 500,000 bottles of water—with more on the way.
Schools are on Spring Break this week, causing an additional strain on families – and we continue to see long lines at distribution sites. Read more about our #ChefsForMississippi response effort in Jackson here.
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Tomorrow marks one year since the WCK Relief Team served our first meal in New York City in response to the Covid pandemic. As shutdowns across the country led to an economic and hunger crisis, we began working with local officials and community organizations to get fresh meals to impacted families. We also quickly started partnering with restaurants in Washington, DC, Oakland, and more to pay them to prepare food, as part of our Restaurants For The People program.
One year later, WCK has served more than 36 million meals to families in 400 cities, and our response continues where we are able. In New York, we launched WCK Direct, a text-to-order program for families facing a lack of food. WCK partner restaurants in The Bronx, Queens, and Harlem make the meals on demand, which can be picked up or delivered directly to households in need. WCK Direct has now launched in Chicago, and will be in other cities soon.
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WCK’s Food Producer Network helps build resilient local food systems by supporting smallholder farmers, fishers, and small food-related businesses with funding, training, and networking opportunities. In Puerto Rico & Guatemala, applications for food producers are open until this Friday, March 19! Food producers in the US Virgin Islands and The Bahamas can expect applications to open on March 23. Visit wck.org/food-producer-network for more information.
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