Just a few days after Hurricane Helene and the subsequent flooding last September, when residents were still in shock and without power or access to running water, World Central Kitchen set up in downtown Asheville, transforming local restaurants into community meal sites.

I remember standing in line for lunch with my almost two-year old son a few weeks after the storm. We’d gone through a lot of pantry supplies and due to lack of power and access to ice, as well as limited water to wash dishes, we didn’t have a lot of access to meat and hot meals. It wasn’t just a hot meal – it was the support, the community, the “you are not alone”, the nourishment beyond the meal. It was a place to come together and begin the slow process of healing together. It was the best chili I’ve ever had.

WCK set up cisterns of water throughout the area, and as our water store at the brewery started to run low from distributing it to team members and neighbors, I’d stop by the water station on the way home to fill up drinking and cooking water. For the 52 days our community was without safe running water, WCK distributed water.

While WNC communities still have a long road of recovery ahead, parts of Asheville have stabilized and our business is on solid footing again. We are happy now to be in position to pay it forward. World Central Kitchen is actively nourishing communities in crisis around the world from wildfires in Spain to flooding in Central Texas to the community crises in Gaza and Haiti.

For the entire month of August, we will donate $1 for every flight sold to World Central Kitchen’s mission to be on the frontlines providing fresh meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises. We hope you will join us in supporting the work of World Central Kitchen.

Written by Ginger’s Revenge Co-Founder, Cristina Hall Ackley

Note on Featured Image: This Linked4Life HOPE sculpture sits outside of Bears Smokehouse BBQ, who lent their restaurant to WCK for many months post-hurricane to be of service for our people and our community.