Nearly a year after the devastating 2019 flood the hard-hit victims are still looking for a little extra help so they can put food on the table.
And as the Food Bank for the Heartland works to fill the void, they’re also preparing to do it all over again this spring.
Hundreds of thousands of meals have gone out their doors to help out victims of last year's flooding.
“It was actually the biggest scale disaster we've ever seen here at the food bank,” Kelly Ptacek, Vice President of External Affairs, told 6 News “We've provided well over 612,000 meals for disaster recovery."
And that number continues to rise.
“There are a lot of families still trying to return to their homes that's going to take several more months,” Ptacek says.
The Food Bank currently has mobile pantries going out to Valley and Schuyler in direct response to last year's flooding. It’s an ongoing need the Together Food Pantry in Omaha is also seeing.
"Huge increases in people coming to see us from 16 counties in Iowa and Nebraska . . . you can see spikes in traffic where flooding has effected people the most,” Mike Hornecek, CEO of Together Inc. tells 6 News
And while help continues for victims of last year's flooding, attention is also turning to what may come.
“We anticipate that there may be some need for our services again this spring and so we are preparing for that,” Patcek says.
Preparation includes coordinating with other relief organizations to make sure enough supplies are set aside.
“So that first starts with things like having bottled water to distribute, handheld snacks, those kinds of things people need immediately when an emergency first hits,” said Patcek.
To volunteer time, or make a donation to the Food Bank for the Heartland visit their website.