Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Ian Safford | Soldiers and Airmen of the Kansas National Guard, assist in packing food items at...... read more read more
While maintaining proper social distancing standards and wearing appropriate personal protective equipment, Soldiers and Airmen of the Kansas National Guard work together to bring food to families across the state during the COVID-19 pandemic in Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas, April 22.
Members of the Kansas National Guard started assisting Harvesters at their Kansas City and Topeka locations in April. Harvesters is a regional food bank serving communities in Kansas and Missouri.
The Kansas Guard elements are no strangers to aiding the communities of Kansas in a crisis, and neither is Harvesters. The food bank collects food to distribute to individuals or families who are in need, by partnering with 760 non-profit agencies in Kansas that work in their communities. Their mission to feed hungry people today and work to end hunger tomorrow rings true as the COVID-19 virus has caused massive layoffs creating more demand across the state.
“We normally have about 241,000 people who are what's called food insecure,” said Steve Davis, chief operating officer of Harvesters. “With the COVID-19 situation, that number has increased substantially so our community partners are telling us that they're feeding anywhere from 35% to 40% more people.”
Another obstacle Harvesters is having to overcome is the limited amount of volunteers. Harvesters is a huge logistical operation with warehouses in Kansas City and Topeka. In response to the COVID-19 virus, the “stay at home” order and social distancing policy has limited the number of individuals in a particular work area. This has decreased the volunteer efforts in the warehouse as demand for its services has increased — putting a strain on Harvester’s critical operations.
“In a normal month we work with about 6,500 volunteers who come in and donate their time here at the food bank,” said Davis. “With the stay-at-home orders and the social distancing we have reduced how many volunteers we have in any given time to 30 and they are in groups of 10. So, we did need the support of the National Guard to help fill in that gap and help us continue our mission-critical operations.”
As of now, there are a handful of Guard members at the Kansas City location working alongside Team Rubicon, a veteran ran disaster response organization. At the Topeka location, there are Guard members working alongside Harvester employees. Both Topeka and Kansas City teams are helping any way they can by packing boxes with shelf-stable food items including cereal, canned vegetables, and fruit that are distributed to Harvester’s community partners. The Kansas City location also has a USDA-certified clean room used for repacking bulk products into consumer-sized packaging for distribution.
“There are Kansans out there who have lost their jobs and one of the main things they need in a time like this is food,” said Cpl. Krista Smith, 731st Composite Truck Company. “When you sign up to join the National Guard you are not only serving your country, but you’re serving Kansas and your community —and this is one of the main ways we do it.”
Guard members have also had a hand in distribution as well, manning forklifts to pack shipping trucks and going out with those trucks to community food donation sites to hand out packages. With Harvesters’ large network of community partners, there are opportunities for Guard members to have a hand in individual distribution as well.
“I’ve always wanted to be in the military, to serve my community and my nation,” said Tech. Sgt. Lyle Johnson, 190th Air Refueling Wing. “This mission lets the community know that we are here to help them. There have been some Guard members who have gone out on deliveries and that increases our visibility.”
As the needs of Kansans continue to evolve, the Kansas Guard stands ready to meet those needs.
“I just want to say that we are really appreciative of the support of the National Guard,” said Steve Davis. “This is obviously an unprecedented time in that none of us have been through before, and so we just appreciate the support of the National Guard in helping us continue this really important mission.”
| Date Taken: | 04.23.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.27.2020 10:18 |
| Story ID: | 368538 |
| Location: | TOPEKA, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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