CLEVELAND, Ohio — For chef Brandon Chrostowski, working in the kitchen is what he does best.
He's the founder and president of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute that helps formerly incarcerated individuals with the training they need to succeed in the culinary and hospitality industries. Now, he plans to spend next week in Israel, bringing his expertise to help feed those who need it most — like soldiers on the front lines and displaced families — through Courage Kitchen, a nonprofit in Tel Aviv.
"There's a lot of chefs from Israel on the ground right now working out of a restaurant, and they're providing nearly 5,000 meals a day," Chrostowski said Tuesday. "I'll hop inside and just start cooking."
Earlier this year, Chrostowski went to Ukraine to help those impacted by the war, and last year he went to Poland to help refugees escaping it. He says he will draw on that experience to help him navigate yet another war-torn country.
"I'm not Jewish, I don't have roots in Israel; I do know people who are," he told 3News. "But I don't care if this was happening in Ghana or this was happening South America. This is wrong, and we're going to support those who are doing something right."
Chrostowski says a local Jewish family is sponsoring the trip, as a show of support from the Cleveland community.
"What I hope it really accomplishes there is that people know, globally, we understand that something wrong happened here," he added. "There's been a lot of messaging of pro-Palestinian, pro-Israeli — listen, this was terrorism, and I think everyone should be anti-terrorism."
Courage Kitchen is looking for donations to help with the thousands of meals served each day, you can find more information on their Instagram page.