This is a re-posting, changing the headline from WCK to World Central Kitchen by recommendation of the esteemed mettle fatigue. It’s certainly worth re-posting given it is vitally good news in this horrifically bad situation when extremists are in power- both HAMAS and the rabid rightwingers in the Israeli government. This is the reality, in every day the good people working to make things =better all all who support them keep doing what they can...
I am copying word for word the email I received today from World Central Kitchen. I believe it is vitally important you all get this news of their work, the situation they are dealing with, and the other organizations they mention that are also aiding the Palestinian People.
Donate if you can. Spread the word of WCK’s good work. Through such actions we can each take small actions that accrue to big help.
Dear Mark,
I am writing to share an update on WCK’s work in the Middle East. As you may know, WCK’s aid to Gaza was paused following the death of our seven colleagues killed by an Israeli military strike. Erin Gore, WCK’s CEO, has released this statement announcing that we will resume operations today, Monday, April 29.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. We recognize the important role that WCK played - prior to halting our operations, we distributed more than 43 million meals and accounted for 60% of all international NGO aid.
We were faced with a difficult decision - to stop feeding families in Gaza during one of the worst hunger crises ever, or keep feeding, knowing that aid, aid workers and civilians are being targeted. We decided we must keep feeding.
Today, WCK has 276 trucks with the equivalent of almost 8 million meals ready to enter through the Rafah Crossing and we are ready to send trucks into Gaza from Jordan. We continue to explore delivering food and humanitarian goods via the maritime corridor with the support of Open Arms, a Spanish humanitarian organization, and the United Arab Emirates. We are also examining whether Ashdod Port can be utilized to offload relief supplies destined for Gaza.
Additionally, our team is opening a third high production kitchen, named “Damian’s Kitchen” in memory of our skilled kitchen builder, Damian Soból, who was lost in the April 1 attack. Damian’s Kitchen is in Mawasi and adds to WCK’s 68 other community kitchens in Gaza, including two other high production kitchens in Rafah and Deir al Balah.
WCK continues to call for an impartial and international investigation into the IDF attack that took the lives of our colleagues. While the IDF has taken responsibility for the attack and publicly stated they changed their rules of operations, we are seeking answers and advocating for change to better protect all NGO workers bravely serving in Gaza.
As we resume our operations, WCK is working to raise the funds necessary to support our relief efforts in Gaza. We welcome ongoing support for this work.
We are grateful for the outpouring of support from WCK’s global community this past month, supporting the families and loved ones of our team members lost and understanding the need to pause operations. From all of us at WCK - thank you. It is a privilege to stand with you as we resume this work. If you have any questions or would like to connect, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
All my best,Tunde Wackman
Chief Development Officer
World Central Kitchen
M: +1 202 754 3258
E: tunde@wck.org
W: https://wck.org
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