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Second Harvest of the Big Bend steps up after Tallahassee's tornadoes

Power outages following the May 10 tornadoes have wiped out food supplies for hundreds of families
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Power outages following the May 10 tornadoes have wiped out food supplies for hundreds of families

Second Harvest of the Big Bend hasn’t missed a beat in responding to last month’s tornadoes, says the head of their network – despite having had to lay off 20 employees in March.

The food bank has served 1,000 families since three tornadoes ravaged parts of Leon County on May 10th.

Feeding Florida Executive Director Robin Safley says she’s proud of the team at Second Harvest.

“I didn’t see a heartbeat missed in their response to this," she said. "And that is what they do, right? I mean, that is the sweet spot of our network. We can ramp up to 300 percent in a sprint. And they did it, and they didn’t back down, and they stayed in there, and they’re just troupers.”

Second Harvest had laid off nearly one-third of its staff after changes in national funding following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The food bank credits an outpouring of donations and volunteer hours from the local community for their response.

Follow @MargieMenzel

Margie Menzel covers local and state government for WFSU News. She has also worked at the News Service of Florida and Gannett News Service. She earned her B.A. in history at Vanderbilt University and her M.S. in journalism at Florida A&M University.