(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Forty-one pallets of food were loaded onto a truck at the Northern Illinois Food Bank Wednesday and sent to help people in Maui.
The food donation, which is of a partnership with Feeding America and Aldi, will provide roughly 20,000 meals to those in need.
“This is something that food banks are great at,” said Chief Philanthropy Officer Maeven Sipes. “We're constantly helping each other out in times of disaster.”
Sipes tells WBBM Newsradio people don’t always think of a food bank as being a disaster relief organization, but when a community is hit hard, local food banks often struggle to access food and keep up with demand.
About 700 volunteers packed 6,000 boxes of food earlier this spring to have on hand when disaster strikes.
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“Each disaster-relief box contains non-perishable food items that are easy and ready to eat,” Sipes said. “Things like granola bars, energy bars, peanut butter and crackers, chicken salad, tuna salad. There's multiple soups, oatmeal, that type of thing.”
Pallets of food have previously been sent to areas in the south hit by hurricanes or parts of the Midwest impacted by tornadoes.
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