Local veteran, chef volunteers at kitchen for Ukrainian refugees
By Marcy Jones and Rob Polansky
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HARTFORD, Connecticut (WFSB) — Watching the devastation unfold thousands of miles away in Ukraine has left many people in the United States asking how to help.
Veteran and chef Jamie “Bear” McDonald of Bear’s Restaurant Group said he is contributing the best way he knows how.
McDonald is serving food and hope.
Called “World Central Kitchen,” the non-profit created by celebrity chef Jose Andres does just that: Set up a centralized kitchen during a crisis.
The organization has a long history of serving millions of meals to those who need it most, many times in the face of natural disasters. This time, the disaster is a man-made war.
McDonald said he couldn’t stand watching the coverage and not helping, so he jumped into action.
The commercial kitchen serves about 150,000 meals a day and has welcomed countless refugees from Ukraine into Poland.
“We are the first people these people are seeing when they come out of Ukraine, and so you keep on a happy face, you smile, or you try to be pleasant, but at the end of the day it’s really emotionally and physically exhausting work just trying to hold it together for them because it’s just traumatizing,” McDonald said.
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