PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The chef and owner of Mike’s BBQ in South Philly has returned home from volunteering on the Poland-Ukraine border, where he helped feed hundreds of thousands of refugees.
But his work has inspired two more Philadelphia chefs who are now volunteering in Poland.
Mike Strauss signed up with the organization World Central Kitchen just a few days before hopping on a plane to lend a hand. When he got there, WCK was still setting up shop.
“There were no ovens there when I arrived, only a couple giant paella pots that they’re using to cook,” he said.
But over the course of the week, they ramped up from serving 3,000 meals a day to 100,000.
“The refugees that you see at the border, many of them haven’t had any food for four days,” he said. “The first two waves of refugees were people with means, so they’re able to survive. This third wave that’s coming through now are people that are much poorer.”
Strauss began each day by cooking and packing food. The first place he served food was at a mall that had been turned into a transition area.
“They would take refugees from the border on a bus to this transition area, where they would sort out where they want to go from there, but while they’re there, they would get meals,” he explained.
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A lot of people who had decided to stay at this transitional station didn’t want to stray too far, said Strauss, because they wanted to return to Ukraine — or they had nowhere else to go.
Since returning home from Poland, Strauss has led other Philly chefs to volunteer.
One Philly chef moved to tears, another with Russian roots moved to ‘shame’ and desire to make change
Philadelphia chef Joncarl Lachman said he was inspired to travel to Poland and help with World Central Kitchen after speaking with Strauss.
Lachman, who is with Center City brunch spot Winkel, said that on the first day, he and fellow Philly-area chef Olga Sorzano spent eight hours chopping potatoes and apples.
"The hardest thing for me was looking at the baby food station,” said Lachman. “I just started crying. I started to cry."
Strauss also inspired Sorzano, owner of Phoenixville kombucha brewery Baba’s Brew. For her, the experience of helping Ukrainians stirred up a lot of emotion, particularly because of her Russian background.
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"I've never ever been more depressed, ashamed, and angry my entire life at the same time,” she said.
"It's like your relative as a rapist and the murderer, and you happen to be related to this person. I mean, you feel a deep shame."
"We (volunteers) were all talking about where we're from,” said Lachman. “Olga said ‘I'm Russian,’ and everybody just stopped talking because we all just met, and they didn't know what to say to her."
Sorzano has family in Ukraine, and her mother still lives in Siberian Russia.
“I spoke with her, but they receive completely different information,” said Sorzano. “Putin is doing a great job of brainwashing the citizens of Russia, so a lot of people do believe in his agenda.”
She also responded to how such divides of information and belief also came in America from the coronavirus pandemic as well as the 2020 presidential election.
“I already lost a lot of my husband's relatives to that,” she said. “Now I'm losing all my personal relatives.”
Related podcast: An analysis by a Drexel University political expert of both the Ukrainian president's speech to the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden's response.
Sorzano said the story she wants to focus on is not hers, but that of the refugees.
"We don't need any pat on the back. Send some money. Those people really need help,” said Sorzano.
"What we want people to realize is that every dollar matters."
She also encouraged people to volunteer in Poland, as something easy for those who have the time and means to do so.
“You don't have to have a chef’s experience,” she said. “Book the lodge and book the car, get the flight, come over here and they will find your job.”
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Back at home, Strauss joked that his wife has to turn off news reports that show Ukrainian refugees. Otherwise, he’ll feel compelled to leave again on another volunteer mission. With all the devastation going on in the world, his experience gave him a glimmer of hope.
“You see literally the very best of humanity — people traveling literally from all around the world all coming there to help," he said.
“I want to turn around and go back.”
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