LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — See a need. Fill a need.
That seems to be the motto for World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that focuses on feeding people in response to crises or disasters around the world.
It was founded in 2010 by José Andrés, a chef who has several restaurants in Las Vegas, including Jaleo, é, and China Poblano at The Cosmopolitan, The Bazaar at The Shops at Crystals, and Bazaar Meat at the Sahara. Bazaar will move to the Palazzo at the Venetian Resort sometime this year.
World Central Kitchen has responded to many situations over the years and is now operating in California, around the Los Angeles area, feeding firefighters, first responders, and those that have lost their homes in the aftermath of deadly wildfires.
Several volunteers that are answering the call to help are chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, who also operate several restaurants across Las Vegas. That includes Border Grill at Mandalay Bay, BBQ Mexicana at Sunset & Durango, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas Ballpark, and T-Mobile Arena, and Pacha Mamas at Allegiant Stadium and T-Mobile Arena.
I caught up with Feniger and Milliken on Friday to learn more about their experiences on the ground and the work that World Central Kitchen is doing.
Feniger had just returned to the Los Angeles area on Friday after being evacuated for the past five days.
"The intensity of the smoke, even if you're not in an evacuation area, the intensity of the smoke and the air quality if very challenging," Feniger said.
And Milliken added that you can feel a palpable amount of stress in the air.
"When I was at SOCALO [their restaurant] yesterday, one of our servers came racing in the back door, like his shirt off and completely freaked out about a fire that he saw on the 10 freeway as he was driving to work and he was scared. And then, two seconds later, our assistant general manager broke down in tears and sped off to go to Glendale, Burbank where her house was in danger," Milliken said. "It's kind of like everybody that you know, everybody is in some form of stress and some form of heightened anxiety and worry."
Both Feniger and Milliken said that the restaurant industry is still working to recover from the pandemic and this is another blow, which will take time to recover from.
"It's a little bit of a ghost town when you're out there. Our restaurant sales are down 75% from before the fire started," Milliken said. "The great thing about being old like me and Susan is we went through this in 1994 with the earthquake that shattered the front of one of our restaurants. People value restaurants and they want them to be there on their corners, lighting up the community. We're going to get through this."
Many restaurants and employees were looking for ways to help their community and that's where World Central Kitchen stepped in.
"Their organizational abilities have helped many restaurants to be able to get involved and do things that are really need because they really have their finger on the pulse on what's needed," Feniger said. "They get together the people that are hands-on and can help, whether they're paid or they're volunteers. They're good at organizing, which is the most challenging part of it all."
"I think one of the most incredible things is the feeling that our staff is so grateful to have a way to help in a situation that feels so helpless," Milliken said. "They just really keep telling me how grateful they are to be able to go to the convention center and hand out hot meals to people who lost everything and maybe get a smile for a moment and bring a nourishing meal made with love to people in need."
According to Feniger and Milliken, they're serving about 3,000 meals from a commissary kitchen and their day-to-day looks different depending on the day's needs.
"We may get a call at one in the afternoon saying 'Can we pick up 500 sandwiches at 4 p.m? Can we get another thousand meals for tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.'," Feniger explained. "We're going to be there and jump in and figure out how to get the product, get it made, and then get it delivered."
"They really have created an art and they filled this void. There's no government institution helping to kind of make all the connections," Milliken said. "They get better at it every time, I think, unfortunately, because there continues to be disasters. It's terrifying to think that all of this destruction in LA is a part of climate change. I think we all have to get a little bit more noisy and talk to our legislators about how we are going to mitigate these things in the future."
Meals have been distributed at several sites across Los Angeles over the past couple of days.
The restaurant industry, as a whole, has banded together to help in any way they can.
"I got a call about an hour ago from Sarah Stegner in Chicago, who owns a restaurant called Prairie Cafe. She's already got 35 restaurants signed up. They're going to start a fund to support the LA restaurant community in the aftermath of all of these fires," Milliken said. "In Chicago, they want to launch it [on Saturday]. I mean, they did the same for Lahaina in Hawaii and raised a good amount of money and sent it there to help the restaurant industry. We really are lucky to be in an industry that's so big-hearted."
Several Las Vegas restaurants are looking for ways to help too.
Chef Richard Verhagen from Evel Pie works with World Central Kitchen and is in Los Angeles helping there.
Good Pie is donating 15% of proceeds from sales of "The Good Hot" pizza to victims as part of their Slice Out Hunger charity program.
Metro Pizza is donating 15% of proceeds from every Tavern Pizza sold between now and Feb. 5 to the L.A. Wildfires Relief Fund as part of the Slice Out Hunger charity program.
Yukon Pizza is also donating 20%of all slice and lunch special sales between now and Feb. 5 to support relief efforts for victims of the California wildfires.
Even though this is the latest in a series of obstacles for the restaurant industry as a whole, Feniger said it shows how strong the hospitality community is and how they show up for their community.
"Feeding the firefighters and first responders that are out of their homes is very humbling and I think it creates even more pride in being in the hospitality business and how important of a role we play to try to make a little bit of a dent in the struggle that's happening," Feniger said. "I think people everywhere are feeling it and trying to see how they can get involved."
You can learn more about World Central Kitchen, their response teams in California, a list of meal distribution sites, and how to donate here: https://wck.org/relief/california-fires-jan25
You can also track the latest on donation drives across Las Vegas by clicking on the article below.
