In the midst of Donald Trump’s criminal negligence of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, there is good work being done. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz has emerged as a champion of the Puerto Rican people. Stars from Lin-Manuel Miranda to Beyoncé to Jennifer Lopez have either made personal donations or helped raise funds through the Hispanic Federation, which is also assisting in relief efforts in Mexico. But perhaps one of the most visible figures has been Chef José Andrés, a naturalized U.S. citizen who, as of October 10, has distributed hundreds of thousands of meals in Puerto Rico:
Since arriving, the superhero chef and his disaster-relief nonprofit World Central Kitchen have served over 350,000 meals; They are well on their way to their goal of feeding 100,000 people daily.
Over the weekend, Andrés and team traveled from World Central Kitchen’s base in San Juan to farther flung areas in need of aid. World Central Kitchen’s #ChefsForPuertoRico opened a kitchen in Farjado and served 9,000 people, one day ahead of schedule. This kitchen will continue to feed people in Farjado and nearby Culebra and Vieques for the next two weeks, Andrés promised in a Twitter video.
Despite bad weather, World Central Kitchen also dispatched a food truck to Naranjito and dropped off 400 meals in Vega Baja, “where the flooding was 10 feet high,” Andrés said on Twitter. Earlier this weekend, volunteers went door-to-door with food in Corozal, Palmarejo, and Guarico.
Andrés has visited some of the most vulnerable and affected areas on the island, including Piñones, where “the vendors are poor people, many who are black, who live off the proceeds of cooking and selling mostly fried food.” But when there’s no money to spend and no food to prepare, they are suffering.
So where some have opted to toss paper towels, Chef Andrés has opted to nourish Americans while advocating for the tools and support Puerto Rico will need in order to again flourish. “The first disaster was natural,” he said during a recent press conference criticizing the lack of federal response. “The second disaster was manmade by clear lack of leadership.”
Eater:
Andrés has also visited the National Guard, who he says his team is feeding, despite the federal government’s lack of support for his efforts. (He says he’s asked for access to helicopters and other assistance to no avail.) For weeks, Andrés has used his Twitter platform to express his frustration with FEMA and President Trump, who he believes is not doing nearly enough to help the devastated island.
For those who have closely followed the career of the chef, they’ll remember his activism as nearly as much as his restaurants. Andrés was set to open a restaurant in Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel—until Trump declared his candidacy by calling Mexican immigrants criminals and “rapists.” When Andrés pulled out of the deal, the two were were embroiled in a lawsuit that stretched out for two years.
Andrés has continued to use his platform for good—“being an immigrant comes with a lot of responsibility to give back, every immigrant I know is here trying to give back,” he has said—including standing by Dreamers, and now Puerto Rico. There is still so much work to be done, and the disaster also affecting the U.S. Virgin Islands has “seemed like an afterthought.” Ordinary Americans like Andrés have stepped up—but where are the people elected to do it for us?