In early January, World Central Kitchen employee Trish Engel wasn’t sure whether she really liked being back home in Los Angeles. She was glad to be with her stepfather, who is weaning off for treatment of Stage 4 cancer. But she wasn’t sure if L.A. was the city for her after being away for about seven years.

Then, the Eaton and Palisades fires happened. Suddenly, Engel was deployed in her own backyard.

As the Los Angeles community outreach manager for World Central Kitchen, an organization that distributes food to people in disaster areas around the world, Engel has now become accustomed to being inspired every day by the relief efforts being put forward by the local partners she works with.

World Central Kitchen quickly moved in after the Eaton, Hurst and Palisades fires tore through the region, working intimately with locals who were already providing fresh food and hot meals to first responders, evacuating families and residents in recovery.

“We don’t want to just come into a place and say ‘it’s World Central Kitchen here to provide aid!” Engel said. “We want to find those that are already doing good work and we want to amplify the good that’s being done in the community. And draw attention to that and then expand on that.”

One of the first people World Central Kitchen partnered with was Rafa Gass, who runs the Altadena Farmers’ Market. Engel said she was already handing out local produce to people for free, so World Central Kitchen took on her market costs and had Gass connect them with the organic farms in the area. This turned Gass’ initial effort into a larger, more public free produce distribution.

Engel said other, local organizations have now approached World Central Kitchen, grants in pocket, to host similar, longer term feeding programs.

“While I fervently wish that there had never been a need for (WCK) to deploy here in our community, I’m so very glad that they did,” community advocate René Amy said of the organization. “Getting a healthy warm meal in the middle or at the end of another terrible day was a bright spot for me — and for many others who lined up for this simple, unexpected kindness.”

World Central Kitchen has provided more than 1 million meals in Southern California since Jan. 8, coordinating with more than 70 restaurant and food truck partners, and engaging about 350 local volunteers, according to their website.

World Central Kitchen also initially set up WCK cafes, or local restaurants that would normally be closed but for WCK to distribute free meals.

“So they’re cooking their same meals, we’re paying them per meal and they’re just handing them out to the impacted community,” Engel said.

The L.A. response team also decided to support restaurants through gift cards. World Central Kitchen chose 50 restaurants around the Eaton fire, and 50 from around the Palisades, and bought $5,000 worth of $100 gift cards from each one. The gift cards were then distributed along with produce.

“ A hundred dollars isn’t gonna be life changing or anything,” Engel said. “That wasn’t necessarily the intention, but this moment of connection that can be created between…family that is impacted, that isn’t thinking about taking their family out to dinner right now because finances are impacted…now there’s that moment they can have a second of normalcy and connect with a business that is also hurting right now.”

Even mom and pop shops that couldn’t take gift cards were included in the restaurant initiative. According to Engel, World Central Kitchen worked to create gift cards for them and a system where they could accept them from customers.

“ I just feel really grateful to be able to do this in this operation,” Engel said. “Seeing friends and family who have lost everything and then being able to connect them to businesses who like, ‘oh, I know that guy! That’s where I go buy my coffee!’ it’s pretty incredible.”

Engel said the next phase of recovery includes an initiative called Restaurant Recovery, for which World Central Kitchen is renting a commissary space in downtown L.A. for food businesses who are ready to get back on their feet. In addition to the kitchen space, the organization is collecting a list of small wares the businesses need and coordinating with organizations who are already looking to donate them.

Engel is hopeful not just for the businesses to get back on their feet, but also to build community within the space amidst each other.

While the large public hot meal distribution is coming to an end, World Central Kitchen is not exiting Altadena entirely. Instead, the meal program will be more targeted. Food will be delivered to hotels housing displaced residents, or community groups.

Engel said World Central Kitchen is working with organizations like the Hollywood Food Coalition, Support and Feed, and Feed the Children.

Being able to see so many people, groups, organizations come together to support those in need has inspired Engel to believe she’s in the right place.

“I know exactly why I am supposed to be here right now,” Engel said. “I feel just so grateful to be here with everybody in this community. Altadena is such a special place and we’re going to rebuild. It’s just, it’s going to take a lot of us together.”