Santa Barbara County Foodbank to purchase second new truck after replacing totaled vehicle

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Nothing has been easy for the Santa Barbara County Foodbank since losing a delivery truck in a recent accident.

"It does really affect our ability to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of our community to. So we're very aware of how much that impacts people," said Paul Wilkins with the Santa Barbara County Foodbank.

The foodbank launched a fundraiser to replace the vehicle.

In a matter of days, the foodbank raised enough money to purchase a new delivery truck.

"It will really meet our needs to maintain our services at a higher level," said Wilkins.

But the fundraiser doesn't stop there.

The foodbank plans to continue raising money for a second delivery truck.

They believe it's needed to be disaster-ready and sustain the organization's COVID-19 response.

While volunteers are thrilled about being about to purchase a new truck, they say it is essential in order to get all the food delivered to all the right people.

"I think that's awesome. There's no way the foodbank could do what they do without the trucks to get the food from one place to another," said volunteer Patsy Aguirre with the Santa Barbara County Foodbank.

As for the second truck, Wilkins says the foodbank needs $80,000 to make the purchase. "We hope to have those trucks by the end of the calendar year but more realistically before the end of summer."