FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A celebrity chef, who has made it his humanitarian mission to feed the needs of those affected by natural disasters, is bound for the Bahamas.
Chef Jose Andres landed in Grand Abaco Island in a helicopter to scout locations for his charity, World Central Kitchen, which seeks to feed Hurricane Dorian survivors.
“We were able to land in the heliport in a hotel called Abaco Resort, and they were waiting for us,” Andres said in a phone interview. “They had the heliport cleaned, and we were able to drop in, I think, 2,000 sandwiches and over 1,000 pieces of oranges.”
7News cameras captured supplies being loaded onto a yacht called “Global” in Fort Lauderdale. Tom McManus, a Fort Lauderdale businessman, co-owns the vessel, which will be turned into a relief ship for people in Abaco.
“At this point, we just got the boat in,” McManus said. “It took a long time getting her here because of the bridges being closed down, and now we’re about to start the process of bringing on a ton of aid.”
Andres first took his kitchen to Houston, Texas after Hurricane Harvey and to San Juan, Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He has since used his celebrity status to feed survivors of other natural disasters.
In November 2018, he fed survivors of the deadly Camp Fire in Northern California.
Andres said the need for food in the Bahamas will be great.
“The one worry that remains is two food shops in the islands were kind of destroyed, were totally gone,” Andres said, “and so people are already about to start getting really nervous, rightfully so.”
McManus said he has a special connection to Abaco and wanted to help by utilizing the yacht.
“It is one of the most beautiful islands in the world,” McManus said. “I am blessed to be so close to it. Our heart is with the people of the Bahamas. We feel we have to do something, and this is what we are trying to do.”
Andres has garnered over a million views online of his preparations before Dorian hit, but he and his team of volunteers are more focused on the 10,000 meals they hope to serve in the Bahamas. He said they’ll do more if it’s needed, but now the chef is ready to get in the kitchen to serve.
Because of the devastation, it has been hard for Andres and his crew to get to the hardest-hit areas. They have rented helicopters, but they are having trouble finding places to land, which is why the yacht is perfect for the task.
“I’m guessing at the very least we’re gonna be trying to be bringing between 5,000 and 7,000 meals tomorrow,” Andres said. “We only brought 2,000 because it is the maximum capacity that we could bring on the helicopter.”
The yacht has a helipad, so the food can be cooked on board, and then loaded onto helicopters and be taken to shore.
“We are going to basically be cooking out of this vessel as well as sending supplies to our kitchens on the mainland that we have established in all of the key areas,”Chef Jason Collis said.
The operation also includes smaller boats to bring supplies to land if there is not too much debris in the water.
“We are excited we can utilize that,” McManus said. “We will have an amphibious car on. Jose will utilize the helicopter use, and this is something we hope we can continue to help the Bahamian people in anyway we can.”
The vessel will leave for Abaco, Thursday morning.
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