A team led by chef José Andrés provided 11,400 meals on Wednesday as part of their efforts to aid furloughed federal workers during the ongoing government shutdown.
Andrés, the restaurateur and humanitarian whose nonprofit World Central Kitchen has fed millions during natural disasters, started the #ChefsForFeds effort earlier this month.
“11,400 hot meals were served today to our incredible unpaid federal workforce!” World Central Kitchen tweeted Wednesday night. “We will see you tomorrow, but hopefully not much longer.”
Last week, the effort served about 12,000 meals over two days, but has since expanded to other cities.
{mosads}A spokeswoman for World Central Kitchen told The Hill that since opening last Wednesday, the effort has served more than 38,000 meals. They have also opened a resource center to provide groceries, pet food and other expense-related help to workers.
As of Thursday, the team has set up 11 pop-up kitchens in Washington, D.C., to feed federal employees and their families, and is working with partner restaurants and food trucks to bring the effort to 17 other states and Puerto Rico.
“Today we face another type of disaster in the United States. More than 800,000 federal workers are without a job. Many millions of Americans are gonna go through hard times,” Andrés said in a video posted to Twitter. “We believe that no person should have to go through the pain of not knowing what to feed their children.”
Some lawmakers have supported Andrés’s efforts as well. CNN reported Thursday that Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) and Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) joined him Wednesday in feeding workers.
Andrés, a frequent critic of President Trump, originally offered free lunch at his restaurants to furloughed workers. The shutdown has now gone on for more than a month.
Updated at 2:35 p.m.