The Food Bank recognized August 29th, the 1 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with two ribbon cutting ceremonies. The first, at 8:30 AM, was conducted at the Theodore warehouse with the help of Congressman Jo Bonner and recognized the arrival of our tractor trailer. Valerie Day was also there, representing Senator Sessions. The Tractor is a single rear axle unit which makes it shorter than the large over the road rigs while the refrigerated trailer is 34 feet long compared to the standard 54 foot trailer. This combination makes the rig over 25 short than a standard rig and the smaller size combined with a power rear lift gate makes the unit better suited for parking lot operations for disaster relief. At 11:30 AM we had a ribbon cutting ceremony at Liberty Church of God in Gautier, Mississippi to recognize them as a new addition to our Emergency Response Pantry site list. The pantry sites are each equipped with a walk-in refrigeration unit and an emergency generator so that they can operate immediately following a disaster. Funding for both initiatives was provided through a $500,000 grant from America’s Second Harvest-The Nation’s Food Bank Network. When completed this fall there will be 21 Emergency Pantry sites spread across coastal Alabama and Mississippi to which we’ll be able to dispatch our new tractor trailer and other small refrigerated trucks in any future disaster relief situation.
That’s not the only thing that is keeping the staff busy! Our emergency food box program, funded through donations and grants, kept volunteers busy throughout the month producing over 2,000 emergency boxes for distribution. These boxes are part of a long term recovery effort to assist those trying the repair their homes and rebuild their lives. We anticipate continuing this program through the remainder of 2006.
The warehouse passed another minor milestone at the end of August as well. The last of our damage repair contracts was completed. Hurricane Katrina stripped several hundred square feet of roof from the building last year as well as tearing away all the canvas over our loading dock area. Emergency repairs done right after the storm closed the roof but another, more detailed repair, was required to suppress significant roof leakage we were seeing in heavy rains. We’re now ready for the next big rain to see how the repairs went!
September brings the America’s Second Harvest national conference, training with the Florida Department of Agriculture, start-up of after school Kids Café sites and a host of other smaller projects so it will be a busy time even if the hurricane season stays as calm as it has so far.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
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