When disaster strikes, having supplies ready and partners prepared to respond can make all the difference.
Over the past few months, Midwest Food Bank has distributed disaster relief supplies across the country. More than 1,000 food boxes were sent in response to fires in Spokane, Washington, 500 cleanup buckets went to Indianapolis, and thousands of hygiene kits and food boxes were sent to Hawaii.
Preparation is an important part of that response. Midwest Food Bank Morton keeps more than 2,000 food boxes on its shelves at all times, along with multiple truckloads of supplies ready to be assembled by volunteer groups.
That preparation came together with perfect timing this summer.
In July, Elevate Church in North Carolina hosted a packing event, assembling more than 1,040 disaster relief cleanup buckets. The original plan was to ship the buckets back to Morton. That same week, flooding struck neighboring West Virginia, and the supplies were redirected to The Community Bridge.
“Initially I said we would take 10 pallets of the buckets and then agreed to take the entire load,” said Chris Kimbo of The Community Bridge. “Only God knew that we would face a second flooding incident two weeks after the buckets arrived even closer to us.”
The buckets were distributed throughout the community, including through staff from five elementary schools who delivered supplies directly to students’ homes.
“All buckets have been distributed to families who desperately needed them. THANK YOU AGAIN,” Chris said.
For Midwest Food Bank, the timing was a reminder of what can happen when volunteers and partner organizations are prepared to serve. Supplies packed in North Carolina for a return trip to Illinois instead found their way directly to West Virginia, just before they were needed again.
Midwest Food Bank is grateful to be part of God’s work through the volunteers, churches, nonprofit partners, and supporters who make disaster relief response possible.
