Food banks expand efforts in wake of wildfires, putting donations to use
Like firefighters and other emergency responders, Bay Area food banks practice responding to earthquakes, fires and other natural disasters. So when a firestorm swept through Wine Country in early October, displacing thousands of families, the Redwood Empire Food Bank knew what to do.
The Santa Rosa food bank called its counterparts in the nine Bay Area counties and asked for help, setting a mutual aid plan in motion that sent trucks full of food to the disaster zone.
Days after the Tubbs Fire obliterated hundreds of homes in Santa Rosa, the Redwood Empire Food Bank had set up drive-through distribution centers.