Partners stepping up to help in hurricane relief

Together with our neighbors, donors, partner food banks, first responders and whole army of boots-on-the-ground volunteers, Feeding America is mounting a massive relief effort to help provide food and resources to people affected by the devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Preliminary estimates suggest that Hurricanes Helene and Milton's impact on the Feeding America network could exceed $215 million as food banks face immediate costs related to food, staff, equipment, and critical infrastructure needed to serve affected communities. These costs will likely increase in the coming months as food banks continue to respond and fully understand impacts across their service areas.

We are grateful for the incredible generosity of individuals and organizations coming together to support these efforts. Donations from public figures like Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds and foundations like The Musk Foundation and Walmart Foundation reflect the growing wave of support that will provide critical aid to communities beginning to rebuild. At Feeding America partner food banks throughout the southeast, boxes pre-packed by Aldi staffers as part of a corporate volunteer effort  have arrived in communities, providing immediate nourishment, and pre-staged boxes packed Abbott volunteers, filled with nutrition bars and pediatric hydration drinks, have been distributed. Stationed outside affected food banks, refrigerated trailers donated by Amazon are humming along to keep donated perishable foods cold and fresh.

Longtime Feeding America partners Coca-Cola, General Mills, H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Inc., Kellanova, Kraft-Heinz, The Kroger Company, Niagara Bottling Company, PetSmart Charities, Sysco, Target, UNFI and WK Kellogg have routed truckloads of donated food, water and supplies to affected food banks and communities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. 

“MANNA food bank has never been a building,” said MANNA’s CEO Claire Neal during her nationally televised interview on The Today Show , recapping the damage that wiped out its entire facility in Asheville, North Carolina. “We’ve always been a vast collection of people who care about our neighbors.”

That vast collection of people who care continues to grow.

In the days since the hurricanes hit, financial donations have poured in from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Elevance Health Foundation and Target. Meanwhile, our friends at Jersey Mike’s activated a fundraising campaign, lasting through the end of October, in all store locations in the United States and online app orders, in which customers can round up or donate at the register to support Feeding America’s disaster response.

As communities begin to pick up the pieces, let’s remember that when the storms fade from the headlines, our neighbors in these communities are facing an unimaginable litany of hardships, including food insecurity, lack of clean water, power outages, school closings and lack of access to everyday basics.

As one of the nation’s largest disaster relief and food rescue organizations, the nationwide Feeding America network is deeply rooted in communities across the country. We are there before, during and after disaster strikes, and remain uniquely positioned to partner with communities across the country to expedite emergency food assistance and supplies.