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

这项快速反应研究（Rapid）奖将为位于德克萨斯州奥斯汀的德克萨斯中央食品银行和位于德克萨斯州休斯顿的休斯顿食品银行在哈维飓风过后的数据收集工作提供支持。粮食银行是面临饥饿和营养不良风险人群的重要支持网络。他们的业务包括从商店和农场批发剩余食品，采购和储存大量捐赠，以及向各种慈善机构分发食品和家庭用品。大多数大型城市食物银行每周为数十万人提供食物。除了正常运作外，许多食品银行还作为救灾机构，为流离失所的居民提供食品和物资。当一个大型食品银行本身受到大规模灾难的严重影响时，向食品银行的运送和从食品银行向救济组织的分发必须重新路由到邻近有能力为受灾人口服务的食品银行。当飓风“哈维”使美国最大的“喂饱美国”食品银行休斯敦食品银行瘫痪时，奥斯汀的德克萨斯中央食品银行和圣安东尼奥食品银行在充满挑战的情况下满负荷运转，填补了空缺。这些粮食银行目前作为一个非正式的网络运作，没有具体的机制或做法来指导区域应对如此严重的灾难。PI和他的研究生和本科生团队将收集这些邻近食品银行的激增容量、临时运行条件和性能数据，因为他们努力支持受飓风影响的德克萨斯州东南部居民。研究目标是：(1)描述主要食品银行中断时的主要物流障碍和瓶颈；(2)确定邻近食物银行的工作人员能力和限制（包括有偿和志愿工作人员）；(3)确定流离失所者所需的急救产品；(4)确定食品银行之间的伙伴关系/协议（正式的和非正式的），并在这些行动中使用。该项目将有助于研究如何改善粮食银行之间的区域协调，以便向受大规模灾害影响的社区提供所需的粮食和基本必需品，这些灾害破坏了恢复工作的一个关键要素。

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.