On Thursday March 5, the San Antonio Food Bank launched a month-long coronavirus “preparedness and prevention campaign.” The effort aims to reach as many as 300,000 low-income households in the Food Bank’s southwest Texas service territory with a 14-day supply of food and a coronavirus preparedness kit. (San Antonio Food Bank, 2020)

The Food Bank’s 14-day food benefit will consist largely of items in its “12 Most Wanted” list. This includes staple non-perishable items like rice, beans, pasta, soups, canned meats, canned vegetables and fruits, along with diapers and pet food. The coronavirus preparedness kit will contain hand sanitizer and cleaning disinfectant, along with other items available to the Food Bank.

The Food Bank will implement a three-part effort to help deliver their preparedness food benefits and coronavirus prevention kits to those in need: targeted mobile distributions in urban and rural areas of southwest Texas; stocking super-pantries and senior centers with the benefit; and opening up a portion of their warehouse for individual drop-in to secure the benefit.

To meet goals of this month-long campaign, the Food Bank aims to raise $1,500,000, or the equivalent of 15,000,000 lbs. of food/cleaning supplies. The public is invited to make contributions at the Food Bank’s website and every $5 provides one food/cleaning benefit to a person in need, with the goal to distribute 300,000 prevention and preparedness benefits in a month. Volunteers will also play a critical role in this response. If you cannot give food or funds, you are invited to give the gift of time. Special volunteer shifts will be set up for the campaign.

“Our low-income families, particularly our seniors on fixed incomes, don’t have the luxury of stocking up in case of a virus outbreak, and they certainly don’t have the ability to weather a two-week quarantine or leave-without-pay if their place of employment sees a slowdown in business.” – Eric Cooper, President and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank