'Into the homestretch': new Food for People facility to open within next month

EUREKA, Calif. — One massive sewage spill, a global pandemic and a 6.4-magnitude earthquake later, the Food for People warehouse in Eureka is almost ready to open its doors to the community.

"We're almost there," Food for People Development Director Carly Robbins said. "We're coming into the homestretch."

After an unexplained sewage spill destroyed the old Food for People facility, as well as about 40,000 pounds of food, in February 2020, obstacle after obstacle has stood in the way of the local food bank's recovery.

"Then, we immediately went into shutdown and then had to figure out how to do food distribution in the middle of a pandemic," Robbins said.

Not only did the pandemic hinder the facility's progress, but it actually created an even larger need for the services it offered, Robbins said.

"We were serving about 12,000 individuals every month pre-pandemic. That went up to about 16,000 in the pandemic and has held pretty strong, and we're actually seeing a new uptick as a lot of those pandemic-era assistance programs are going away," Robbins said.

Recent disasters like the 2022 Ferndale earthquake exacerbated this need in the community.

"We found having the necessities on hand when a disaster strikes is really important because lots of people will reach out wanting to give food to you from out of the area, but it often takes several weeks for that food to show up -- that is not super effective for the families who are suffering," Robbins said.

Robbins said the new site, which is larger than the old one, will help with this.

"We'll be able to have the ready-made meals, things people need in an emergency if they don't have cooking facilities or running water or anything like that," Robbins said.

There is not currently an exact date of reopening, as much of the remaining work will rely on drier weather, but Robbins said the site will likely be fully operational within a month.

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