RAPID: Identification and Analysis of Key Dynamics Required for Sustainable Operations of Texas Food Banks after Hurricane Disasters

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This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) award will provide support for data collection efforts at the Central Texas Food Bank in Austin, Texas and the Houston Food Bank in Houston, Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Food banks are a critical support network for populations at-risk for hunger and malnutrition. Their operations include wholesaling of surplus food from stores and farms, procuring and warehousing bulk donations, and distribution of food and household goods to a variety of charitable agencies. Most large urban food banks provide meals for hundreds of thousands of people each week. In addition to their normal operations, many food banks serve as disaster-relief agencies by providing food and supplies to displaced residents. When a large food bank is itself seriously impacted by a large-scale disaster, deliveries to the food bank and distribution from the food bank to relief organizations must be rerouted to neighboring food banks capable of serving the affected population. When Hurricane Harvey disabled the Houston Food Bank, the largest Feeding America food bank in the US, the Central Texas Food Bank in Austin and the San Antonio Food Bank operated well past full capacity under challenging circumstances to take up the slack. These food banks currently operate as an informal network with no specific mechanisms or practices in place to guide a regional response to a disaster of this magnitude. The PI and his team of graduate and undergraduate students will collect data on surge capacity, transient operating conditions, and performance at these neighboring food banks as they worked to support the residents of southeastern Texas affected by the hurricane. The research objectives are to: (1) characterize the key logistic obstacles and bottlenecks when a major food bank is disrupted; (2) identify staff capacity and limitations (including both paid and volunteer staff) at neighboring food banks; (3) determine first aid products needed by displaced individuals; and (4) identify what partnerships/agreements (both formal and informal) between food banks were in place and utilized during these operations. This project will enable study of how regional coordination among food banks can be improved to deliver needed food and basic necessities to communities affected by large scale disasters that disrupt a critical element of the recovery effort.