Pivoting Quickly: Providing Drive-Through Access to Food Showed a Successful Model for Future Emergencies

Sometimes emergency situations free up creative solutions. Friday’s overwhelmingly successful drive-through food distribution held by Food for People in partnership with Cooperation Humboldt and a number of other agencies was an innovative response to a rapidly increasing need for more food. The non-profit saw a community forced to Shelter-in-Place in the face of a worldwide pandemic with a decreased number of volunteers able to help distribute it.

“It was very successful,” Carly Robbins, Development Director for Food for People, told us. “We had people lining up well before two. In a half hour, we gave out well over 300 boxes.” They continued to give out food until four p.m.

Robbins explained that with a number of jobs having been lost, some community members are struggling to afford food. “I think everyone knows that things are getting tough for people around here,” she said. “Today’s distribution points to how many people are really needing a little extra help.”

But Food for People and their partners were able to quickly identify a way to get large amounts of food out to those in need with decreased access to their normal volunteers all while maintaining appropriate social distancing and wearing equipment to protect both the wearer and those getting the food. “The whole idea [of a drive-through distribution center] came to fruition in a week,” Robbins told us. “We only had a couple days to [get the word out].”

Luckily, they had help. “We had some amazing partners,” she said. “Without all of their help, we couldn’t have pulled it off.” She named Cooperation Humboldt, the EPD, the CHP and Uplift Eureka as partners that made the project a success.

Christina Gallagher, a Humboldt County In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) caregiver, drove her 62-year-old client into Eureka to receive the food pick up. She got there 15 minutes before the 2 p.m. start time and said, “The experience was quick, efficient, and pretty well organized. [There were] lots of police and volunteers.” She said they were done by 2:20 p.m. She said the box held staples–“Dry goods type stuff, spaghetti, canned goods, 2% milk in a box, corn, peas, oatmeal…Canned peaches…[and] Canned tomatoes.”

Robbins, Development Director for Food for People, pointed out that it’s not just today that people have needed help. She explained, “Within the last three to four weeks–typically we send one truck load per month to some [food distributors]–but now we are doing sometimes two or three trips.”

Food for People has been struggling through adversity themselves. On February 28, several thousand gallons of sewage inundated their food storage site causing significant damage. “We moved out of that site,” Robbins said. The organization has leased two warehouses and the City of Eureka is letting them use the old Eureka Chamber on Broadway for direct distribution.

If anyone would like to help, Robbins said, “The most impactful way is to give a financial donation. We are trying to get as much food to help as possible.”

She suggested going to Food for People and looking for the donate link at the top of the page or sending a check to PO Box 4922, Eureka, CA 95502.

The group can also use volunteers. “We’re putting together small teams,” she explained. Fill out volunteer form online here.

“I think today is a perfect example of adapting to these times,” Robbins told us. “Having to pivot to deal with increased need with less resources is difficult, but we adapted and we’re successful. We’ll use this model in future emergencies.”

She followed up with an email saying, “At last count we had given out more 540 food boxes…[W]e asked everyone how [many were in their] household, so once the tally is counted we should have a good idea how many people will benefit from the food.”