Improve Disaster Readiness to Solve Hunger

The holiday season is an important time for San Diego to come together and fight hunger together. By giving back during this season of gratitude, we remind ourselves of the meaningful impact that we can have on the lives of those around us – each and every day. Thank you for sharing Feeding San Diego’s vision of a hunger-free and healthy community by your support of our mission.

First-Quarter Updates

In our first quarter of FY19, Feeding San Diego made significant progress on important goals for hunger-relief operations in the region. We provided nearly 5,250,000 meals in quarter one to food-insecure residents of San Diego County, helping them access the healthy food they need to thrive. We continue adding partnerships with other nonprofits and community sites across the county to reach as many individuals in need as possible. Additionally, we added five new School Pantry partners and one new Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) site, meaning more fresh groceries and free, nutritious meals are making their way to the children in our community who need them most.

Disaster Relief and Preparedness

Hurricanes, tornados, mass floods; these are not words you hear associated with Southern California. However, California is not immune to disasters: we have nearly annual fires, tsunami threats, and (thankfully infrequent) earthquakes.

“It’s not if, but when. It is only a matter of time until Southern California is shaken by an earthquake,” said Vince Hall, Feeding San Diego’s CEO. “We cannot stress enough the importance of having a plan for you and your family when this occurs.” Because of the unexpected nature of earthquakes, it is vital that each of us is ready for the inevitable.

Feeding San Diego continues to build the resources that will keep our hunger-relief services available in case of a disaster. During majorly disruptive events, such as the now yearly wildfires experienced in Southern California, reliable food distributions are needed more than ever. Over the last quarter, Feeding San Diego has expanded our ability to purchase the equipment we need to rapidly increase our operations overnight.

Thank you for your support of our mission and we wish you a happy holiday season!

Links:

• Feeding San Diego Homepage

Feeding San Diego has just ended our 2018 fiscal year and has accomplished some fantastic milestones thanks to our dedicated supporters. Because of the generosity of community donors like you, Feeding San Diego was able to provide 27.2 million meals in San Diego and Imperial Valley to families, kids, and seniors struggling with hunger over the last year. In the last fiscal year, we have seen steady growth – increasing distributions of healthy meals, raising private community support, working with community partners to close the meal gap through innovative solutions, and increasing awareness of the need and our mission to the local region.

Disaster relief and emergency preparedness have been hallmarks of Feeding San Diego’s services since our founding and continue to be an ongoing area of development. We supported several disaster-relief efforts this year including:

• Provided CalFresh support to those affected by the Ventura County Fire.
• Spearheaded a local online fundraising campaign to support Hurricane Harvey and provided two weeks of operational support to the Houston Food Bank, sending our COO to help lead volunteer efforts at their distribution site.
• Provided additional food distributions to the neighborhoods affected by the power outages in rural east county San Diego, Fall 2017.
• Provided supplementary food distributions to the neighbors affected by the Lilac Fires, February 2018. The Feeding San Diego communications team oversaw a massive traditional and social media effort to help residents access our emergency food distributions and other community resources.
• Organized a fundraising campaign to support meal distributions happening around the Safe Camp Project and the temporary housing structures staged in San Diego in response to the Hepatitis A outbreak.
• Further organized Feeding San Diego’s Disaster Preparedness and Response Team; sought guidance from a Feeding America disaster-response mentor and began shaping an extensive disaster plan. We learned that the best way we can prepare our facility for a disaster is to install a generator hookup – we’ve assessed costs and continue to strategize our fundraising efforts around this and other important needs.
• In response to the West Fire in Alpine, July 2018, Feeding San Diego was able to rapidly organize and host weekly distributions for the hundreds who were evacuated, including 34 families who lost their homes. Support continues for this rural community.

Thank you for helping Feeding San Diego create a hunger-free and healthy community for all of our neighbors in need, especially in increased times of stress.