With no end in sight to Donald Trump’s government shutdown, José Andrés, the chef and humanitarian who has been feeding federal workers in the Washington, D.C., area, is expanding his important work, both there and across the U.S. In a video posted to Twitter, the chef announced that his World Central Kitchen is set to open at least 30 kitchens across twelve states and Puerto Rico. “I want you to be aware of it,” he said. “I want you to spread the word.”
Andrés has already served 38,000 meals out of his D.C. kitchen—11,400 on Wednesday alone—including vegetarian meals. The only requirement to come get a hot meal, or to take food home, is to be a federal worker, no other questions asked. “We believe that no person should have to go through the pain of not knowing what to feed the children,” he said shortly before opening the D.C. operation, “so we’re opening a kitchen.”
The shutdown has now stretched out to more than 30 days, leaving federal workers and their families to worry how they’ll afford groceries, their rent, even life-saving chemotherapy treatment, all because Trump is a failure of a leader, aided by Mitch McConnell, with no allegiance to anything but himself and his agenda. In the meantime, we’re thankful for leaders like Andrés and the congressional Democrats pushing for an end to this misery.