Celebrity chef Jose Andres arrived in Puerto Rico and has fed more Hurricane Maria survivors than the American Red Cross through his World Central Kitchen nonprofit, The Washington Post reported.
Andres, known for his award-winning restaurants in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, traveled to Puerto Rico after the hurricane and helped organize hundreds of volunteers with San Jose chef Jose Enrique to start feeding residents hurting from the hurricane, the newspaper noted.
The Post said the chefs started making stew to feed 1,000 to 2,000 people, but now are serving 25,000 meals per day, including sandwiches and paella. As of Tuesday, Andres has helped deliver 1 million meals to residents compared to the 540,000 distributed by the Red Cross.
"When we establish contact with a community, we maintain that contact," Andrés told The Washington Post. "When we go to a place, we take care of that place until we feel it has the right conditions to sustain itself. That’s what a relief organization should be."
Last Friday volunteers from the World Central Kitchen delivered food door-to-door in Loiza, sent food trucks to Vega Alta, and set up a paella popup in Humacao to serve 5,000 people, according to Eater.com.
In April, Andres's ThinkFoodGroup settled a two-year legal dispute with the Trump Organization when he backed out of opening a restaurant at a Trump hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., The Washington Post said.
Andres pulled out after President Donald Trump described some Mexican immigrants as drug dealers and rapists on the campaign trail, and Trump sued for $10 million for breach of contract, the newspaper noted. Andres countersued for $8 million, charging that his campaign talk made it impossible to hire Hispanic staff or to attract Hispanic patrons, the Post said.
Andres went to Twitter to talk about the success of his feeding operation Tuesday.
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