A message from Food for People executive director Anne Holcomb:

 

Food for People is working hard to remain open and serve the people in our community who depend on us during the power shutoffs. We want folks to be aware that when the power goes out our phones and email don’t work; however we do plan to be open for business, with or without power, Monday through Friday from 9 to 4:30 at our main warehouse at 307 W. 14th St. in Eureka. We are currently providing only nonperishable foods and that plan will remain in place until power is restored for an extended period of time. We are also monitoring our inventory closely as deliveries from points south have been disrupted due to fire. A shipment scheduled for this week from Redwood Empire Food Bank in Santa Rosa is on hold as they are in the mandatory evacuation zone. This is a fluid situation that we are monitoring closely but we want the community to know that it is a top priority for us to provide food for people who are struggling financially.

Households that receive CalFresh are eligible to receive replacement benefits for food lost during the October 9th outage (deadline to apply is November 8th), and we are awaiting details on the possibility of replacement benefits for this latest outage and the one scheduled to begin tomorrow morning. Anyone with questions can check www.foodforpeople.org for detailed instructions and a copy of the form. You can also call the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Service Center at 1-877-410-8809.

Food for People would like to thank the community for the many offers of help, and we would especially like to thank KHUM and the Lost Coast Outpost for keeping us informed! And thanks for encouraging your listeners to check on friends and  neighbors who may be elderly or disabled and need some assistance. We have been trying to connect with many of the homebound individuals we serve and are finding that a number of folks have limited access to technology and don’t know why the power is out and that another outage is soon to follow. I’m always encouraged by the acts of kindness and good will that happen during times like this, and we as a community are going to need to keep those rolling in the days and weeks ahead.

With gratitude and best wishes to all,

Anne Holcomb