(Aerial view) U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Disaster Household Distributions have been facilitated through partners such as San Antonio Food Bank (SAFB) who have created this mass distribution sites, at the Alamodome to efficiently get food to more than 2,000 households, in San Antonio, TX, on April 17, 2020.
The site is open for four hours and staffed by more than 400 volunteers from various organizations, military, and individual residents who contributed their personal time today. Each household received approximately 150 pounds of food, mainly consisting of proteins, grains and produce. Those who walked in received two bags of food. The food comes from food producers, retailers, the USDA, and others. Part of the efficiency of the site is that pre-registration was required before arriving.
Under a Presidential Declaration of a National Emergency, FNS may approve state requests for Disaster Household Distributions (DHD) for targeted areas to meet specific needs when traditional channels of food are unavailable and not being replenished on a regular basis. DHD provides boxed foods to households using existing inventories of USDA-purchased foods.
USDA has approved targeted DHD programs in several states including Texas.
SAFB has seen a 100% increase in those who are served by 500 partner non-profit agencies in the past two weeks. Usually, 58,000 are served. The San Antonio Food Bank is a 501c3 non-profit organization providing millions of pounds of food to more than 500 charitable organizations in Southwest Texas serving those in need. In addition to food distribution, the San Antonio Food Bank provides numerous programs that not only solve the immediate problems of hunger but help individuals and families gain long-term food security.
USDA Photo by Lance Cheung. Original public domain image from Flickr