World Central Kitchen provides critical food supplies to those affected by Helene

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World Central Kitchen has crews across multiple states working to provide food to people stranded by Hurricane Helene

Transcript

00:00John Torpy is the activation manager for World Central Kitchen. John, thanks so much for joining us.

00:05You serve such a critical role in the well-being of a lot of people facing their absolute worst, darkest days of life.

00:11So World Central Kitchen helps bring food to people all over the world. We've seen some of Haleed's devastation.

00:17How would you describe the situation there in Asheville?

00:20Well, it's not just Asheville. It's the surrounding areas of Asheville as well. It's Boone. It's Tennessee. It's South Carolina.

00:28We're getting reports of things coming in for Virginia. And not to mention, we have a team in Florida, Tampa area, Southern Georgia.

00:36This storm was devastating for so many communities in such a large area.

00:41In Asheville, around here, we're seeing houses that have just been uprooted, trees that are floating down rivers.

00:49It's just really bad here right now.

00:52What are your teams seeing specifically? I know you mentioned the trees that have been uprooted and so forth.

00:57Obviously, it's hard to characterize all that you're seeing.

01:00But is there anything that sticks out with you specifically among those who you've met?

01:05Or maybe a story that you heard or an anecdote from somebody that has affected you?

01:10Yeah, I can tell you. In fact, you mentioned Jose at the beginning of this. He just left.

01:15He's in a helicopter heading to some of these really hard-to-reach places.

01:19North Carolina, right where we're at right now, is really spread out.

01:23We're landing on hillsides, hilltops. We're landing on riverbanks, trying to get food out to those that really need it.

01:29What we're also sending out is the solar lamps.

01:33And as we give those out, they have USB connections so they can charge their phones.

01:38They can let loved ones know where they can communicate with them.

01:42It's really special when you can hand somebody a meal, but also a means of communication as well.

01:47So that feels really good with what we're doing here.

01:50You're providing food in several states, obviously not just in the Asheville area specifically.

01:55With roads blocked and people isolated, are you able to reach some of these people?

02:00And how are you getting help to all these different places in need?

02:03Yeah, we're doing our best. As I said, we have helicopters in the air right now.

02:07We're dropping in on areas where it looks like a bridge is out, where there's a small community where we can deliver food.

02:12We've incorporated a local Jeep club to help us out to get across some of these areas.

02:17We have a couple ATVs out where we're trying to get to small areas that really need help.

02:22And it's just amazing when you incorporate the community like the Asheville community or the surrounding communities.

02:29Everybody wants to come out and help. Everybody knows something that can help.

02:33And believe me, we're going to incorporate all of this to make sure we get these people fed.

02:38All right. We can see some pictures there. A familiar face in the bottom left corner.

02:41A few of those shots there, Jose Andres himself.

02:43John, just briefly, is there any way people can help?

02:46Yeah. Feel free to get on our website, WCK.org.

02:50They're constantly feeding information from our activations.

02:53You can donate there. You can volunteer in some of these areas.

02:57We're always looking for great people and communities to come and help us out.

03:00So anybody can chip in and certainly help us out with our activations.

03:05Again, it's four to five states right now. It's just a massive operation.

03:09You're doing some great things, John. Thank you for making time for us.

03:11John Torpy, Activation Manager with World Central Kitchen.

03:14Thanks again for joining us.

03:16Thanks so much.

03:17All right, John.

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