Category Archives: Disaster Response

You may have seen it on the news yesterday.   Hundreds waited in line to donate nonperishable food and personal care products to Connecticut Food Bank, warm clothing to the Salvation Army and dollars to the American Red Cross to help with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts here in Connecticut. Vehicles stuffed with bags and boxes of groceries lined Sargent Drive in New Haven leading into IKEA, as well as at the Sears parking lot in West Hartford.  Today, we’re still unloading pallets of food and personal care items, but so far we have more than 200,000 pounds! The generosity is much appreciated as people who are struggling financially must replace the food items they had to throw away after losing power.  Our network of 600 food assistance programs throughout six counties are expecting an even greater demand for their services in the weeks ahead. There are so many people and organizations...
Continue reading »

You can help your neighbors who are feeling the impact of Hurricane Sandy.  Connecticut Food Bank has launched a virtual food drive to help respond to the rapidly growing need for food assistance. With so many families with limited or no resources to put food on the table, we need your help now more than ever.  For these families, it is not as simple as restocking when the power comes back on.  They can’t always afford food under normal circumstances.  And low-wage workers may not be getting paid for those hours that their employers are closed due to power outages. You can access our Hurricane Virtual Drive here.  Thank you for thinking of those who struggle every day as the state recovers from another natural disaster.

It looks like the worst of Hurricane Earl will miss us. We’re letting out a collective sigh of relief at Connecticut Food Bank. Nevertheless, we’ll be ready to help if the edges of the storm impact our communities. What many people don’t realize is the Food Bank and our partner food banks throughout the country play a role in the community’s immediate and long-term disaster response. In times of disaster, we work with local, state and federal government agencies and relief organizations to provide food, water and supplies, if and where needed. Consider assembling a family emergency food box. Click here to check out Feeding America‘s suggestions of what you should include in the box. The importance of food banks in disaster response was highlighted five years ago when our sister food banks in the south had to grapple with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and then Hurricane Rita. Check...
Continue reading »