Alex Trelinski
THE World Central Kitchen(WCK) charity founded and led by chef Jose Andres has distributed over five million meals to victims of the Valencia flood disaster.
Andres said on Thursday that it plans to stay in the area until at least next month and beyond- if needed.
He added it is planning special menus including turkey for Christmas and the Three Kings holiday on January 6.
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The WCK emergency teams arrived in Valencia on October 29 and immediately began to distribute food in Paiporta and Catarroja.
Jose Andres said: “It’s what we always do: our first place is the street, it’s never about creating a command centre.”
“It was impossible to move, people might not have had money, ATMs were gone, shops had disappeared, elderly people could not go down because there were no elevators and food had to be carried up,” he explained.
He stated that there were thousands of volunteers who at their own risk brought them the water and food they needed.
According to Andres, although things happened in an organized way, ‘the most beautiful moments were when they happened spontaneously’.
“If you plan you can be doing it for a month and you will never know what the right plan is, but if you adapt in the moment you are always able to cover the specific needs that people have. For many, many weeks,” he reflected.
After 51 days in Valencia. WCK has been responsible for more than five million meals- including a million hot meals- more than 300,000 sandwiches, 435 tonnes of vegetables and fresh fruit; 60 tons of bread, and 10 tons of fish.
They set up more than 72 fixed distribution points in 70 affected towns and 400 door-to-door deliveries daily for groups with reduced mobility, with WCK directly distributing up to 60,000 meals a day.
They also activated local commerce by helping to reopen 35 businesses in Albal, Picanya, Paiporta, Massanassa, Catarroja, Alfafar, Sedavi and Algemesi, which became free distribution points of 10 tons per day between bread, vegetables, fruits and fish.
Likewise, in collaboration with the Food Bank of Valencia, they distributed 27,000 boxes with ingredients as well as Christmas boxes, with around 15,000 volunteers.
The Valencia Tourism Centre opened the first central kitchen on November 1 and the second came the next day at the Melia Hotel.
WCK then set up in just three days the large-capacity central kitchen in Tinglado 2 in the port of Valencia, with the capacity to produce up to 100,000 meals a day.
