Nate after completing the 2023 NYC Marathon
Nate Mook – marathon enthusiast, animal lover, and CEO of both World Central Kitchen (WCK) and Hachiko Foundation – was determined to help the Ukrainian people affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When news of the conflict broke, Nate was leading WCK, which provides meals to areas devastated by disasters and humanitarian crises in Tonga and the southern border of the United States. Having visited Ukraine multiple times prior to the war, Nate made many friends there who were directly affected by the conflict. Many had to flee to western Ukraine or beyond in the dangerous and unsure initial weeks of the invasion. Knowing he had the opportunity to make a difference, Nate sent WCK’s head of emergency response to Poland to investigate how they could help.
With such a global event, Nate was flabbergasted to see that no foundational aid was being provided by the United Nations or European organizations for fleeing Ukrainian refugees. There were no organized support systems or efforts, and border crossing to Poland had slowed to a crawl – with families waiting days without being able to escape. His organization’s help was urgently needed. On February 28th (just four days after the invasion), Nate and his team landed in Ukraine where he would begin WCK’s groundwork. They directed people to the border, and provided much-needed meals and housing through hotels. Nate believes that the war has touched every single Ukrainian and it is for that reason so many of them are dedicated to helping each other forward. World Central Kitchen served 200 million meals to Ukrainians in 2022 alone, which was only possible through non-governmental funding.
World Central Kitchen distributes 42,000 meals at Oleksandriya, a city in Central Ukraine very close to the ongoing war.
For my work with World Central Kitchen, I am grateful to the hundreds of thousands of people who chipped in to support. Our effort was truly powered by people–we received no government funding. I am also grateful to the Ukrainians – really they are the heroes of humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. Every day they are at risk…shelling…they go to shelters and many of them are dedicated to serving their fellow Ukrainians. [They] don’t want to give up either! We simply uplifted their work and scaled it up. Without local Ukrainians taking the lead, no humanitarian effort in Ukraine would be possible.
Natalia and her beautiful daughter Miraslava, refugees from Ukraine, enjoying their first hot meal in days at the Lviv train station provided by World Central Kitchen.
After five meaningful years of running World Central Kitchen, Nate decided to step away as a way to focus specifically on efforts for Ukraine. He especially wishes to emphasize “[how incredible] the staff and team are, especially our Ukrainian division which continues their impactful work to this day.”
World Central Kitchen staff on the day they served their 100 millionth meal in Ukraine!
Humanitarian assistance is often looked at in a very short-term perspective where you respond immediately to an emergency. We have to look in a much longer-term time frame.
Nate’s beloved cat, Jinx
As a cat owner himself, Nate knew how important pets were to the Ukrainian people. He experienced firsthand how heartbreaking it was for evacuating citizens to leave behind a furry family member to fend for themselves. While performing his groundwork in Ukraine, Nate frequently encountered animals with collars wandering around, former pets that were forced to survive on their own. This inspired Nate and his team (Yuliya Stefanyuk, Kateryna and Sergiy Onishchenko) to begin providing these animals with food as a small side project. Unexpectedly, they received a lot of attention online, with heartbroken people giving monetary support to save “these innocent creatures caught up in war.” This side project grew and ultimately became the Hachiko (which means “displaced pet” in Ukrainian) Foundation, which built feeding stations in numerous Ukrainian towns, thus creating food sources and shelters for the animals during the winter. Hachiko’s posts on Twitter and Instagram (@hachikoua) garnered the attention of tens of thousands of sympathetic people. Hachiko was completely volunteer-based with every dollar given in donations going toward food, medicine, and construction of feeding stations.
I’ve been very fortunate to meet such amazing, incredible Ukrainians who are taking care of the animals.
Hachiko Foundation has been a complete success: they have served 60,000 tons of food so far in 236 cities, and they continue to refill their feeding stations every week. In 2024, Nate plans to expand their efforts to even more cities and to do so, hopes to raise enough funding for Hachiko’s next year of work.
Hachiko feeding station under use in Kramatorsk, a city in Eastern Ukraine
Additionally, Nate works for and supports several Ukrainian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). He is on the advocacy advisory board of Razom (meaning “together” in Ukraine). Razom specifically seeks to “empower the potential of Ukraine” through financial and volunteering efforts.
After being deeply involved in the Ukrainian recovery efforts, Nate wants to share some insights with Humanitarian Voices readers. He firmly believes that an element critical to providing aid is taking time to listen – by talking directly to communities and understanding their primary needs in the current emergency. Nate observed significant differences in necessities across Ukrainian communities, ranging from access to electricity and water to food availability. He found the most notable differences between communities in eastern and western Ukraine, especially as more refugees were fleeing to the west. Furthermore, Nate realizes that humanitarian organizations as a whole cannot only focus on the initial emergency and relief, but they also need to address what comes after the conflict. Therefore, strategic efforts are necessary to bolster the self-sustainability of communities, as humanitarian aid has its limitations. For instance, rather than establishing temporary shelters, a more sustainable approach would be to repair windows, enabling people to return home. Don’t flood a community with free food so the local shops and markets can’t open. Have restaurants feed their own communities rather than building new kitchens. Ultimately, we must focus on the long-term in our support efforts and encourage the revitalization of Ukraine in its post-war future.
We need to keep the world’s attention on Ukraine. If we buy from farmers in Ukraine, we buy from Ukrainian producers which helps the economy. That’s the most important thing right now. Keep Ukraine up and running so that it becomes self-sustaining long term.