Order a seasonal special at Friendly Toast and help World Central Kitchen efforts in Ukraine

Friendly Toast is raising money for World Central Kitchen through mid-May, donating $1,000 upfront and following that up with a $2 donation for every seasonal special sold in its eight restaurants in New England.

There's a Friendly Toast in Burlington on St. Paul Street downtown.

World Central Kitchen was founded in 2010 by renowned chef Jose Andres to feed people in disaster zones worldwide. The organization has been in Ukraine since February in a high-risk effort to feed the beleaguered residents of that war-torn country.

On April 16, a Russian missile struck a World Central Kitchen location in Kharkiv, destroying it but leaving staff members "shaken but safe," according to the Associated Press. Three people died in the missile attack. The organization told the AP it has now reached 30 cities across the country, providing nearly 300,000 meals a day.

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"Our dedicated donation program has shown the ability to raise significant dollars for charity partners and organizations in need," Friendly Toast Co-owner Eric Goodwin said in a news release.

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"World Central Kitchen has been on the front lines of this crisis since it first began, providing warm meals to those who are displaced from their homes and those who are unable to leave and are sheltering in Ukraine."

For more information on World Central Kitchen, visit https://wck.org/.

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Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 802-849-0497 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Friendly Toast: Restaurant locations raising money for Ukraine