Foodbank partners with City of Santa Maria for new home delivery service

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - As the Coronavirus continues to spread, many are unable to get food supplies on their own.

The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County in partnership with the City of Santa Maria is hoping to change that with a new home delivery service.

"This is throughout the entire county and they can call 211 to request to request home delivery of food. This would be staple items. Qualifying seniors who are age 60 and up or 55 with a disability can make use of the service. Callers can either leave a message or wait for a call specialist," said Mark van de Kamp with the City of Santa Maria.

The city is redeploying public library employees to staff the call center.

So far, van de Kamp says the new service is going well.

"Since the line went live on Wednesday, we already had 50 people added for home deliveries," said van de Kamp.

That number is expected to increase.

Foodbank organizers are excited about the new service as more people are struggling to get food supplies

"We brought this whole thing together to create a food call center with 211 so they can call 211 and ask any questions they need about where to get food from the Foodbank, and they can request home delivery all in one place," said Lacey Baldiviez with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County.

While the service is limited to seniors and people with disabilities, organizers hope to expand their home delivery service to more families in the near future.