As emergency management officials prepare for Hurricane Milton, Florida’s largest independent food bank is working to coordinate their response.
Farm Share is a Homestead-based food bank that focuses on food insecurity.
But since Hurricane Irma hit in 2017, they’ve also become a source for disaster-affected areas, helping Floridians access food, hygiene kits and cleaning supplies.
“We've never actually had back-to-back catastrophic, potentially major Category 3 or 4 hurricanes hitting the state of Florida, and so it's going to push my staff and organization and all organizations that respond to these storms kind of to the brink,” said CEO Stephen Shelley.
He said Farm Share still plans to deploy supplies within the first 24 to 36 hours after the hurricane makes landfall. But supplies are running low.
“The MREs, the water, the food products, they're not as robust as they were before Hurricane Helene. We're trying to find additional donations …of food, water, and even monetary supplies to help keep the operation running," Shelley said.
Farm Share has already distributed over 2 million pounds of food and supplies after Hurricane Helene.
You can check with your local Emergency Operations Center to see if Farm Share is distributing food donations in your area.
READ MORE: Preparing for Milton: Sandbag distribution sites in South Florida
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