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