LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A local chef is on the front lines of the crisis in Ukraine this week.
Chef Jose Andres and his nonprofit organization, World Central Kitchen, are feeding refugees in Ukraine and neighboring countries including Poland, Romania, and Moldova.
Andres and his organization are working to provide meals 24/7 as families cross the border looking for safety.
The chef and his crews are stationed at a Polish border crossing approximately 500 meters from Ukraine, Andres explained in a video posted to Twitter.
"People don't stop arriving," Andres said. "People are cold; families are cold. They carry with them whatever they can bring — usually a suitcase, but people are bringing children. It's freezing cold. I don't know how people make it."
People of the World…Reporting from the Ukraine border! This is one of the places @WCKitchen has hot meals. It is below freezing tonight & I am meeting so many refugees, families who are escaping & don’t know what’s next…We will do our best not to let them down! #ChefsForUkraine pic.twitter.com/YiEemUfLlC
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) February 28, 2022
As many as 500,000 Ukrainians have reportedly fled their homes and sought safety in neighboring countries amid Russia's ongoing assault.
World Central Kitchen is setting up stations at different entry points from Ukraine, including in Poland and Romania, Andres explained. They've also established feeding stations inside Ukraine, including in the southern coastal city of Odessa.
Andres says World Central Kitchen is doing its best no to let anyone down and is "exponentially increasing the output of meals."
At the border crossing where Andres was working Sunday, 8,000 meals had already been served.
"If we need to reach a quarter-million, we will," he said.
World Central Kitchen is working now to help those fleeing the country, but plans to help long-term are in the works. Andres said once the situation in Ukraine has stabilized, his organization will spread out through Ukrainian cities to set up community kitchens "and cover where there may be huge need."
"Let's take care of the refugees right now; let's take care of them once they go to shelters, and hopefully the war will stop soon and then we can take care of them when they go back to Ukraine," Andres said. "I'm going to make sure that we don't fail."
