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‘Love wins’ | NoVa chef and owner of Bayou Bakery is helping to feed Ukrainian refugees in Poland

Chef Guas, the Cuban-American owner of Bayou Bakery in Arlington, is volunteering and raising money to help those dispossessed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Northern Virginia celebrity chef David Guas knows a thing or two about refugees.

His father fled Castro's Cuba. And his parents survived Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Now Guas is near the Polish border with Ukraine, helping feed the millions of people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

"Good morning. Day 9...." he says, walking into the huge outpost World Central Kitchen has set up in Przemyśl, Poland, near the border with Ukraine, in one of the videos he's been posting to Bayou Bakery's Instagram page. 

For Guas, the mornings at World Central Kitchen are in some ways like mornings at his bakery in Arlington. He's up early to roll out light, fluffy biscuits.

"Very excited," he says, in his low-key way.

Guas’ name may be even more of an asset than his cooking skills. He's helping raise money on the Bayou Bakery website to feed the millions of displaced people.

"So happy to report we've already raised $21,000 back home!" he said on a video just part way through the trip. The Community Spoon Fundly fundraiser is now up to almost $24,000.

He says it's the most rewarding thing he's ever done.

"The people don't stop arriving. People are cold. Families are cold," Bethesda chef and humanitarian Jose Andres says on one of his social media videos. 

World Central Kitchen says it's served over 4 million meals to refugees since Russian invaded Ukraine over a month ago.

"There are many ways to fight. Some people fight making sure people are fed," Andres says.

Guas says the days have run 12 to 14 hours, making biscuits, apple cake, baby food -- and 500 pounds of braised beef cheeks.

"We're feeding people. People need food. And we're giving food," he said.

He packed a suitcase full of protein bars and Mucinex last week and left to join dozens of volunteers and professional chefs from around the globe -- a two week trip to help conjure the magic that's allowed World Central Kitchen to comfort the dispossessed at home and abroad.

"Love wins," he says in another video from the kitchen, with his colleagues cheering him on.

Millions of us are hoping he's right.

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