After a tornado ravaged the Waterloo area on Sept. 2, Foodlink and one of its key food bank partners, the Seneca County House of Concern, mobilized to help residents recover. Prolonged power outages meant hundreds of local residents lost their entire perishable food supply, with some local retailers also forced to throw out their inventory.
Families who were already preparing for the first day of school were left scrambling to clean up after the storm, assess damage and put food on the table for their children.
“I’ve seen a lot of trees down, a lot of power lines down,” said Liz Becht, a board member with Seneca House of Concern. “People lost electrical power for a couple days — some three days. And so their food supply, obviously, the refrigerators, the freezers, is long gone.”
Foodlink’s Member Services and Food Bank teams mobilized quickly, coordinating an additional Pop-up Pantry two days after the storm (Sept. 4), their regularly scheduled PUP on Sept. 8, and another PUP on Sept. 9. The staff at Seneca House of Concern was grateful for the additional support in helping to provide much-needed food for 500+ households.
Delores Morgan, the Executive Director, said she was grateful for Foodlink’s partnership.
“Out of all the people that came here yesterday, probably 60 told me they’re still without power because they can’t afford to have the power put back into their home,” Morgan said. “I have a wonderful relationship with Foodlink. Without you all, we wouldn’t be able to continue what we do.”
