Foodbank of Santa Barbara County raises enough money to replace totaled truck

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County announced that it raised enough money through a fundraiser recently to replace its refrigerated truck.

The truck was damaged after overturning while transporting food and water to Lompoc on May 11.

Since the accident, the Foodbank said it has felt the loss of the truck and realized its need to increase transportation as food demands increase during the pandemic. This includes replacing the lost tuck and purchasing an additional truck.

“During our Covid-19 emergency response, the Foodbank has more than doubled the food we distribute, is serving 65% more people than usual, hired 15% more staff, has had 20 National Guard troops provide 6,000 hours of service, along with hundreds of new community volunteers. We’ve acquired two additional warehouses and two refrigerated trailers to expand our storage capacity, but we were using the same trucks as we do for our normal operations,” explained Erik Talkin, Foodbank CEO.

Starting last week, the Foodbank kicked off a fundraiser with the goal of raising $240,000 - that's $120,000 per new truck.

In only a week, the Foodbank announced it has raised half of its goal. This happened after the nonprofit raised $50,000 online which activated a matching grant from Yardi Systems, Inc. This $100,000 was then added to the $20,000 provided by insurance to equal the $120,000 needed to replace the totaled truck.

The Foodbank said additional funds are still needed for the following costs: $120,000 for another refrigerated truck, $12,500 for protective truck wraps and $6,500 to replace the 4,600 pounds of food that was lost in the truck accident. These costs add up to $139,000.

If you would like to donate toward the Foodbank's truck and food costs, you can visit their website FoodbankSBC.org.