[Tallahassee, Fla.] – When Hurricane Dorian was approaching the east coast of the United States as a Category 5, Florida residents braced themselves for what could have been the most powerful storm in over 30 years. As the only statewide hunger relief organization with an active presence in all of Florida, the Feeding Florida network is a core member of Florida’s Emergency Management team. Feeding Florida partners with the Division of Emergency Management to pre-stage state resources strategically throughout the Florida that can be quickly mobilized to ensure communities are prepared. During Hurricane Dorian, the State in partnership with Feeding Florida was able to quickly shift pre-staged MRE’s and water into the projected path of the storm on the East Coast, additionally they were equipped to replenish and increase staged resources taken from other parts of the state.
Although Dorian’s path changed and the state of Florida received minimal impacts, hurricane season is not over. Feeding Florida works year-round with state and federal partners such as the FEMA, Red Cross, Salvation Army, and Florida Baptist, to plan response and recovery efforts.
“In previous years, hurricanes such as Irma and Michael have illustrated how critical our proactive efforts are to ensure every Floridian is surrounded with the appropriate resources required during a natural disaster,” said Robin Safley, Executive Director of Feeding Florida. “The Feeding Florida network has made strategic infrastructure investments and exercised experienced foresight to place essential supplies in key locations to ensure a quick post-storm response.”
Feeding Florida’s Network of 12 Feeding America food banks distribute 280 million pounds of product to all 67 Florida counties utilizing 160 commercial trucks and 20 warehouses with more than 500,000 square feet of storage.
“In addition to what our Network does every day for those in need, we are thrilled to partner with the State during disasters to deploy these capabilities and utilize this statewide infrastructure.” Robin Safley said.
To learn more about Feeding Florida and its disaster response efforts, please visit https://www.feedingflorida.org/taking-action/disaster-response.
About Feeding Florida
Feeding Florida is the state’s leading organization in the fight to end hunger. The statewide network unites 12-member food banks to provide a healthy, adequate, and consistent food supply to every community every day. Feeding Florida member food banks support more than 2,300 local charitable agencies, which provide food directly to individuals and families in need to ensure a hunger-free Florida. Each year, the Feeding Florida network provides food to the 2.8 million Floridians facing hunger, including 800,000 children and 600,000 seniors. Feeding Florida is a unified voice regarding hunger and food insecurity by focusing on each community’s needs.
Feeding Florida’s member food banks include: All Faiths Food Bank, America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend, Inc., Bread of the Mighty, Feeding Northeast Florida, Feeding South Florida, Feeding Tampa Bay, Feeding the Gulf Coast, First Step Food Bank, Florida Gateway Food Bank, Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, and Treasure Coast Food Bank.