In the fortnight following the island-wide ruin of Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria, assistance is still sluggish: despite desperate calls to the from San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz for help, aid is only now trickling into the capital with stranded communities and towns further afield left with few rations and enduring bureaucratic barriers.
In the face of protracted international efforts, a counter hurricane of a humanitarian named José Andrés has helped revive relief efforts on the devastated island. Last Monday, the celebrity chef and founder of non-profit flew to Puerto Rico to stage his own intervention.
“I was crying a lot today because I know we can do better,” the Spanish-born, Washington DC-based chef explained to CNN on Friday. “The people of Puerto Rico are Americans, like you and like me. Don’t forget about that.”
His aid and fundraising Twitter movement #ChefsforPuertoRico isn’t the only initiative he’s fostered on his personal social media platform – he’s also fired off a number of tweets addressing the US President Donald Trump directly, including a video that demonstrates his efforts on the ground.
The chef is far from winding down his efforts – in fact, the WCK team is working to double the largest amount of meals served per day to 100,000.
“We’ll bring water, we’ll bring food, we’ll keep moving,” Andrés told his 540,000 Twitter followers.
