The Foodbank is working to continually improve county-wide preparedness in the event of a disaster. In partnership with over 30 organizations, including nonprofits and county and city offices, the Foodbank has developed the Multi-Agency Disaster Feeding Plan for Santa Barbara County.
It provides a scalable framework for coordinating emergency feeding efforts within the county’s geographical area. The plan is inclusive of the primary disaster feeding entities including governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs), and the private sector.
The plan also provides a mechanism for a coordinating group (Multi-Agency Feeding Task Force) that may be activated during a range of disaster situations.
This plan is based on the national Multi-Agency Feeding Support Template which was developed collaboratively by State Mass Care Coordinators, the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, Feeding America, Convoy of Hope, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and Animal and Plant Health Service (APHIS), FEMA Headquarters and Regional Mass Care staff, and Headquarters FEMA Logistics Management Directorate.
Our local food supply system is complex and made of many parts. Private, non-governmental and government sectors all play a critical role. The just-in-time nature of the food supply system means that an interruption to the supply chain will be felt almost immediately. Resources within the impacted area will be limited or nonexistent. And resources to address large-scale extended feeding needs will likely be located outside the impacted area.