Jeff Bezos donates $100 million WCK founder

Chef Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen which earlier this year provided 8000 meals a day to Vincentians in the aftermath of the volcanic eruptions, will receive a $100 million gift from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to be shared with charities of his choice.

Andres and Van Jones, founder of Dream Corps and a CNN political contributor, were announced as recipients of the “Courage and Civility Award” gifts after Bezos’s 11-minute flight into the edge of space Tuesday morning. Bezos said the awards are to leaders who are building needle-moving solutions to complex problems, and doing it with courage and civility.

Jones will also receive $100 million to be shared with charities of his choice.

For Andres the money will go to World Central Kitchen which has been addressing food insecurity needs around the world, particularly in the aftermath of disasters, including the eruption of La Soufriere in St Vincent on April 9.

“This award itself cannot feed the world on its own. But this is the start of a new chapter for us,” Andres said. “It will allow us to think beyond the next hurricane to the bigger challenges we face.”

Andres had said the goal of World Central Kitchen is to double food aid around the world and change the way 3 billion people cook their food in unclean settings.

World Central Kitchen, founded by Andres in 2010, has served more than 50 million meals to people impacted by crisis. It has also trained hundreds of chefs; advanced clean cooking practices; and given grants to farms, fisheries and small food businesses.