ON "60 MINUTES": "THE URGENCY OF NOW IS YESTERDAY," SAYS CHEF JOSE ANDRES ABOUT MEETING THE PANDEMIC'S FOOD SHORTAGES

HIS ORGANIZATION HAS MADE AND SERVED NEARLY TWO MILLION FREE MEALS IN MORE THAN 50 AMERICAN CITIES

The poor and the isolated are finding food scarce - food banks have been overwhelmed and food supply chains disrupted - and thousands of first responders thrust into battle against the pandemic need to eat while they perform their critical functions. World-famous chef Jose Andres has once again stepped up to fill a food void in a crisis. Anderson Cooper reports on the restaurateur's latest humanitarian efforts on the next edition of 60 MINUTES, Sunday, April 19 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Cooper finds Andres feeding National Guard troops working at a makeshift hospital in New York City. All told, his operation here fed about 2,000 in a day - that day. "But the number is going to keep increasing. The good thing for us, Anderson, is that if all of the sudden we need to go up to 10,000 or 20,000 people, we are ready," he tells Cooper. "When you talk about food and water, people don't want a solution one week from now, one month from now. The solution has to be now. The urgency of now is yesterday."

Andres relies on a national network that includes several of his own eateries to achieve his goals. His organization, World Central Kitchen, has prepared and served nearly two million free meals to people fighting the pandemic in more than 50 U.S. cities over the last few weeks.

The global charity funded by donations began responding to the pandemic in February. One of its first recipients were the quarantined passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. The experienced World Central Kitchen employed health protocols it developed serving meals during a cholera outbreak in Mozambique. It has mobilized to feed first responders and others in need in crisis around the world for years. Last year, it helped feed people in the Bahamas affected by Hurricane Dorian.

Andres' goals today are more ambitious than serving free meals. He's created a plan to support the restaurant industry by tapping into and paying eateries that would otherwise be sidelined for long periods and risk going out of business. "We partner with them, we tell them, 'Listen, we need you to help us feed this police station, this fire station, this hospital, this elderly home,'" says Andres. "Right now, we have hundreds of restaurants across America... systems that are already in place. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. You only have to change the way you think."

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