A double-edged sense of urgency? The email was titled *Urgent: Personnel safety concerns* and was sent to the leadership of World Central Kitchen last year.
<https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POkrZ218GcgnHX2hd2Dfy8uBs148OucesndxsX2GWdrI-AQgGouVkrFZRAPGd-RvzJ_Ce8FzXqAaLC-QqZaXZaVeLONpfP3kTGwhlwU1Wf6Qhr9kYT71ZP7PaXWHPDDyCzAAYJea0UdSfEM9jr0oCAg4S9WCATi_p1efTFbftDxphVu4ZWMEVebBvHFYPt23CkK1MrHaTDb_4WIncY4EEbkDtlB6QAdytudzi8HENu1rHfAiro5jiANxg9xhg8L7C9Q==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZ0vIecraO3zNcB_BwHAZ7M4cE30TifoRRnd_JWtVD-JTxVBuxaih9Sv6i5bP2s9Ih_L-2Vt8=> “I have first hand witnessed this organization *disregard safety many times in the past*,” wrote Brack Watters, a distribution operations manager who’d deployed with WCK to Ukraine, Turkey, Haiti, and beyond, and was now working on the organization’s response in Gaza, in the email. “I feel it is happening again and on a level that is completely unacceptable.” Twenty-five days later, *seven WCK staff in Gaza were dead*. Israel took responsibility for the killings on April 1, 2024, *calling them a “grave mistake.”* A report commissioned by the Australian government reached the same conclusion, although it also presented a more nuanced picture. My colleague Elissa Miolene spent months delving into those nuances, speaking to 14 former and current staff members and contractors about whether World Central Kitchen’s renowned sense of urgency to help people in disasters and war zones came at the expense of its own people <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POkrZ218GcgnHX2hd2Dfy8uBs148OucesndxsX2GWdrI-AQgGouVkrFZRAPGd-RvzJ_Ce8FzXqAaLC-QqZaXZaVeLONpfP3kTGwhlwU1Wf6Qhr9kYT71ZP7PaXWHPDDyCzAAYJea0UdSfEM9jr0oCAg4S9WCATi_p1efTFbftDxphVu4ZWMEVebBvHFYPt23CkK1MrHaTDb_4WIncY4EEbkDtlB6QAdytudzi8HENu1rH9WSrBtIIP8iCC9iRxRWxvQ==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZ0vIecraO3zNcB_BwHAZ7M4cE30TifoRRnd_JWtVD-JTxVBuxaih9Sv6i5bP2s9Ih_L-2Vt8=> . “For this to happen did not come as a surprise to any of us,” says one former staff member who left the organization in 2023. “And that makes it so much worse.” World Central Kitchen <https://t.devex.com/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZ0vIechByqryQAEjuDFtrUK6QadxktGYPZik5lR8jz5qZ6HwQtrU5leFy5Cd2W7KhKvtfW8Q=> *refuted allegations that it suffered from a lax safety culture*. "Any suggestion that a lack of training or security protections contributed to the events of April 1 is both malicious and contrary to these undisputed facts,” writes Erin Gore, who became WCK’s chief executive officer in March 2023. “Our model is unique: when disaster strikes, we move fast to get on location, partner with communities, and dramatically scale operations to fill immense humanitarian food needs,” the organization adds in a statement to Devex. That’s exactly what WCK became known for: Feeding millions of people while bucking the bureaucracy that often can slow down traditional humanitarian groups. The organization’s vision statement highlights how it shows up “with the fierce urgency of now,” instead of “asking for permission or following systems and bureaucracy that lack urgency and flexibility.” But not everyone agrees with what two people describe as a tendency to *“build the plane while flying it”* across the world. “I love that we move so quickly and usually make the impossible happen,” Watters wrote in his email. “But at what cost.” *Read:* What lay behind the deaths of 7 World Central Kitchen staff in Gaza <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POkrZ218GcgnHX2hd2Dfy8uBs148OucesndxsX2GWdrI-AQgGouVkrFZRAPGd-RvzJ_Ce8FzXqAaLC-QqZaXZaVeLONpfP3kTGwhlwU1Wf6Qhr9kYT71ZP7PaXWHPDDyCzAAYJea0UdSfEM9jr0oCAg4S9WCATi_p1efTFbftDxphVu4ZWMEVebBvHFYPt23CkK1MrHaTDb_4WIncY4EEbkDtlB6QAdytudzi8HENu1rHHXyT-Q6GouFaWcEs4jzdpw==/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZ0vIecraO3zNcB_BwHAZ7M4cE30TifoRRnd_JWtVD-JTxVBuxaih9Sv6i5bP2s9Ih_L-2Vt8=> *Background:* How 7 deaths changed aid work in Gaza <https://t.devex.com/dc/kyXVoDpAY__Vu56MNr4POnf_FbI6LykMaSzAO87LWNLpureB2rfVF4EkwoQUqXKSY15Jbi4CJ-0xKQWK_gXoGIQzqLhRz8BNdIg4Iw9q4l_3iJuwAAzCKLlW8Mom7qfo2BO_EQhueiGvrbiQOBQWCGtHyQpQBYCFSOKDyQPPckuc1sgDDD5Oxgek9atQlLZ0vUBAd8MZPrisL5mumqf3XsB0GJKT2Veat9EniosB6Gs=/Njg1LUtCTC03NjUAAAGZ0vIecraO3zNcB_BwHAZ7M4cE30TifoRRnd_JWtVD-JTxVBuxaih9Sv6i5bP2s9Ih_L-2Vt8=>
