Celebrity Chef José Andrés Says His Charity Has Distributed 4 Million Meals to Ukrainian Refugees
José Andrés’ non-profit organization World Central Kitchen has provided more than 4 million meals to Ukrainian refugees since Russia launched its invasion last month.
MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell highlighted Andrés charity efforts while speaking to the chef on Monday, sharing that he had distrubted an average of 250,000 meals to Ukrainians each day.
“Today we’ve been sending trains, wagons, we have been working very closely with the CEO of the railroad. Obviously they’ve not stopped working,” Andrés said, explaining how he managed to distribute so many meals.
“They have everything more or less, even under war, organized, but they appreciate when you cooperate with them, and we have four warehouses inside Ukraine, and those warehouses are allowing us to obviously bring a lot of food from Poland and all the places and we keep filling them, but as they are filled, we keep sending them out.”
Andrés went on to say that in addition to any volunteers, the executives at his charity have been on the ground working with restaurants in Ukraine.
“Many chefs, they decide to stay behind, to stay cooking for their people, and the least we can do is keep supporting them with money, keep supporting them with food,” he added. “We know how with our organization, and right now we have … an amazing army of good.”
Mitchell also noted that President Joe Biden, who met with Andrés in Poland, praised and thanked the chef for his humanitarian aid on Saturday.
In times of crisis, we often see the best in humanity. I want to thank my friend Chef José Andrés, his team at World Central Kitchen, and everyone on the ground for all they’re doing to support Ukrainian refugees. pic.twitter.com/Kw68Mv7rcu
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 27, 2022
“In times of crisis, we often see the best in humanity. I want to thank my friend Chef José Andrés, his team at World Central Kitchen, and everyone on the ground for all they’re doing to support Ukrainian refugees,” Biden wrote in a Tweet, also sharing video of Andrés charity work in Warshaw, Poland.
Andrés returned the favor while speaking to Mitchell, lauding Biden for his response to the invasion and for speaking directly to Ukrainian refugees.
“He was full of empathy,” Andrés said of Biden’s meeting with refugees, calling on other world leaders to meet with refugees as well.
“I think we want leaders that lead, and understanding that politics are always complicated, but I do believe we want also leaders that we can all relate to,” he added. “I think everybody around the world is very upset of what’s going on in Ukraine right now with this war that has no [reason] to exist.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
