It has been six months since Hurricane Idalia made landfall in our service area, devasting our communities with destructive flooding, winds, and rain. The strongest hurricane to impact the region in over 100 years, the communities impacted sustained major damage, impacting homes, businesses, and infrastructure.
Shortly after the storm subsided, we initiated our response, actively assessing the aftermath to determine the extent of the damage and identify areas where our assistance was needed. In just a week after the hurricane made impact, we distributed over 800,000 pounds of food. Mobilizing to bring MRE’s, non-perishable disaster food boxes, water, and clean up supplies to communities in our service area.
In the weeks following the Hurricane, we served families who were going days without power, families who had lost their entire homes, and farmers who had lost half or all of their crops for the growing season. Our community rallied behind us as we served those that needed it most and this is thanks to the remarkable kindness of our donors, volunteers, and fellow Feeding America member food banks. In the 6 months since the storm, our efforts have resulted in the distribution of more than 1.3 million pounds of food, translating to over 1 million meals, across the six counties directly affected by the storm.
On Thursday, February 29th, on the 6th month anniversary of Hurricane Idalia making impact, we held a distribution for 500 families at the West Fraser Perry Sawmill, a location we have utilized numerous times throughout the past 6 months to provide critical mobile distributions.
These communities are resilient and full of grit, and they are recovering, but recovery takes time. As these families focus on rebuilding, Second Harvest remains a constant resource for help.
To support our efforts to serve these communities and others in our service area, donations can be made online at Donate Today – Second Harvest of the Big Bend (fightinghunger.org).