Disaster Response United States Project #53837

Hurricane Ida Relief

by Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana

Project Report | Feb 20, 2024
Connecting Bayou Families with Nutritious Meals

By Amelia Whittington | Corporate and Foundation Relations Officer

Approximately 2.5 years have passed since Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on Louisiana's Bayou region, but we continue to work to connect Bayou families with the nutritious meals they need to thrive.

The COVID-19 pandemic adn Hurricane Ida put hunger in the spotlight, but also revealed the longtime inequities that countless people in our communities were already facing. These economic challenges have been further exacerbated by the effects of multiple hurricanes and increasing inflation. Food prices and supply chain disruptions are affecting our food bank at the same time that household budgets for families are tightening. More families than ever before are seeking help from Second Harvest, many for the first time.

To feed Bayou families today, Second Harvest is responding to this increased need through its Food Distribution and Mobile Pantry Programs, its Child Hunger Programs, its Senior Program, and its Disaster Relief Program. We work with nearly 30 partner agencies across the region to meet neighbors where they are and remove the barriers that keep people from being able to access nutritious food. Those include lack of awareness of food assistance options; a lack of physical access to do transportation issues and food deserts; social stigma around seeking food assistance; and individual experience such as pantries having excessive wait times or not being able to meet special dietary needs. With our partners, we prioritize the dignity of our neighbors experiencing food insecurity.

Over the past year, Second Harvest has distributed more than 3 million pounds of food to a monthly average of 11,000 children, adults, and seniors in the Bayou region.

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Oct 26, 2023
Second Harvest's Hurricane Ida Relief Work

By Amelia Whittington | Corporate and Foundation Relations Officer

Second Harvest is grateful to have made it through another hurricane seaon without a major storm impacting Louisiana, but the work of recovery from Hurricane Ida in the hardest-hit areas continues. This includes Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes and Grand Isle. Through the generous grantmaking of the American Red Cross, we have been able to assist our community partners in this region with essential capacity-building items to replace things lost in the storm such as refrigerators, freezers, shelving, and technology. These will also help these partners be better prepared and resilient when future storms hit.

Second Harvest, like countless other organizations across the nation, continues to be plagued by the effects of inflation. This is not only impacting our expenses on everything from food and fuel to equipment and vehicles, but also intensely affecting the amount of food we have on hand to distribute to our neighbors. Our two main sources of food are large-scale donations from retailers such as Walmart and Winn-Dixie, and USDA commodities from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Over the past year, the amount of food received from these sources has decreased by 52%. Grocery stores became much leaner with ordering during the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning they have fewer items remaining for donation. The availability of food from the USDA’s TEFAP program has been inconsistent and unpredictable in addition to being lower in volume due to supply chain issues across the board. These decreases in the availability of food are occurring at the same time the number of people seeking Second Harvest’s help is increasing, as families are impacted by the financial domino effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple hurricanes, and rising inflation.

While the USDA is projecting a 13% increase in the availability and distribution of TEFAP food this year and Feeding America is looking at new procurement strategies for its member food banks, the level of service our neighbors need will not be possible in the coming year without additional support.

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Jul 5, 2023
Second Harvest's Hurricane Ida Relief Work

By Amelia Whittington | Corporate and Foundation Relations Officer

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