Provide Hurricane Matthew Emergency Food Supply

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida exists to serve the emergency food needs in our community.  We serve the four metro-Orlando counties of Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake as well as two coastal counties:  Brevard County, best known for Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, as well as Volusia County, best known for Daytona Beach.

Hurricane Matthew had devastated the Caribbean and was headed for the East Coast of Florida with a projected path of at minimum passing over the coastal areas of Brevard and Volusia Counties, but potentially coming ashore in Brevard County and turning inland toward the metro-Orlando area.  As part of our mission, Second Harvest remains prepared to provide emergency food resources for disaster relief.  We had prepared both the Orlando Hunger Relief Center and the Distribution Centers in Brevard and Volusia County to immediately begin disaster relief distribution as soon as it was safe to do so.

Fortunately, the storm took a slight jog toward the right, keeping it further offshore and preventing the heavy damage that would have occurred with a land falling hurricane.  The storm passed 45 miles east of Melbourne (Brevard County) as a Category 3, 120 mph storm.  Winds in Melbourne were 70 mph.  As it passed Cape Canaveral, further north in Brevard County, 107 mph winds were reported at an elevated tower.  Matthew maintained its Category 3, 120 mph winds as it continued north, passing 38 miles offshore of Daytona Beach with winds in Daytona Beach of 91 mph.  Even inland in Orlando, wind gusts of over 60 mph were reported.

A storm of that size does not pass that close to land without impacting people.  Widespread power outages were reported not only in Brevard and Volusia Counties, but also in the metro-Orlando counties.  Both Brevard and Volusia County experience coastal flooding, structural damage to homes and businesses, and flooding along the Halifax and St. Johns Rivers.  People with damage to their homes, in flooded neighborhoods or without power for several days must turn to relief organizations for help.

Our Volusia County Distribution Center in Daytona Beach distributed 2,304 individual Meals-Ready-to-Eat; 952 disaster relief boxes holding four pounds of food resources, and 7,200 pounds of bottled water.  These disaster relief items were provided to The Salvation Army and other nonprofit agencies providing disaster relief at no cost to those organizations.  All food resources provided by Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida are received by people needing assistance at no cost to the individuals.

We sincerely appreciate the support of our hunger relief efforts by caring people who donated to this project.  With your help, we were able to reach people impacted by Hurricane Matthew with food and water to help them get them through the aftermath of the storm.