TAMPA, Fla. — Feeding Tampa Bay is prepared for the worst. Classified as "first responders," they are poised to respond to Tampa Bay's immediate needs following major storms and hurricanes.
The organization's new warehouse is 215,000 sqare feet and built to withstand Category 5 level winds (155 mph).
According to Feeding Tampa Bay, the facility is supported by two separate power grids in the event one grid or neighborhood goes down. Moreover, they are supported by three 300kW generators, able to power the entire building and systems in the event that power loss is catastrophic.
Additionally, the new facility has a kitchen that can produce 30,000 meals in 24 hours. They also have showers and laundry on site.
"Every possible precaution we can take to make sure we're ready for hurricanes, we've taken," Thomas Mantz, president & CEO of Feeding Tampa Bay, said. "We're very, very intentional. We even built this piece of property up 13 ft over water level. So we're eight feet above 100-year flood plain to make sure we never have any water intrusion."
Classified as first responders, it's not just the building, but the team at Feeding Tampa Bay that's ready for natural disasters.
"Two or three weeks out, we start taking out our book that we follow every single time there's a disaster and we start talking about where we're going to deploy, what we're going to deploy," Mantz explained. "Excess food delivery! We start to bring in food from around the state and around the country to get deployed. Then we think about during the storm what resources are needed. Are we getting meals to shelters?"
And they don't stop once the storm settles.
"All the way through a month to two months after a storm, we're a part of a continuum trying to make sure that folks are okay," he added.
Ultimately, Mantz explained, they're working to preserve peace of mind.
"One of the reasons to do this story with you is to remind everybody if something happens, there's an organization like Feeding Tampa Bay that's already thought about you and is already planning to make sure that you're okay," he said. "In that moment, it's critical that they have someone that's looking out for them."
Feeding Tampa Bay said its facility design was modeled after its years of experience responding to hurricanes, COVID-19, a government shutdown, etc. It was also inspired by other facilities they visited across the country.