Santa Barbara County Foodbank kicks off campaign to replace overturned truck

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The Santa Barbara County Foodbank lost a food delivery truck in an accident this week.

Managers say the truck fleet is "stretched beyond capacity" distributing twice as much food since the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the truck was made in 2008, insurance is only covering $20,000.

In order to meet current environmental and technology standards, the new equivalent truck will cost $120,000.

Managers say the the accident brought awareness to the foodbank's need to keep up with increasing demands for food deliveries and to be ready for future emergencies.

Starting this week the foodbank plans to kick off a fundraiser with the goal to raise $240,000.

The money will be used to replace the lost truck and an additional new truck.

For crews with the Santa Barbara County Foodbank, working with one less truck since Monday's accident hasn’t been easy.

"We’re all working above capacity right now, working long days, long shifts, doing more than what we normally do," said Paul Wilkins with the Santa Barbara County Foodbank.

In addition to working with one less truck, crews have been distributing twice as much food because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the truck was made in 2008, insurance is only covering $20,000.

In order to meet current environmental and technology standards, the new truck will cost $120,000.

The foodbank plans to kick off a fundraiser this week with the hope to raise more than $240,000.

"It’s to purchase two new trucks one that will replace the truck that was damaged and another one to help with our increased workload," said Wilkins.

Despite the loss of the delivery truck, the crew isn’t giving up.

"Sometimes we have to do multiple trips on one truck because we’re down one truck but you know we’re hoping to get that truck soon," said Temo Garcia with the Santa Barbara County Foodbank.

The foodbank hopes to raise enough money for the two new trucks by the end of this year.