Workers at the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County were greeted Wednesday morning with a large eucalyptus tree that had fallen on the organization’s warehouse near Santa Barbara, damaging some of the upstairs offices and equipment.
Because this happened overnight, no staff were in the building, so there were no injuries.
However, the upstairs community-engagement office was destroyed, and a second upstairs office sustained some damage.
“The Foodbank — it’s an old building, we’ve taken great care of it all along,” warehouse manager Jesus Lopez told Noozhawk. “It’s got good bones; it just lost the battle to a eucalyptus tree. … It’s almost like telling us it’s time for a new building.”
The warehouse’s backup generator was also suffered major damage, but Lopez said the organization will be using a portable generator until a new one can be obtained.
“My first thought was actually our operations — how are we going to get this food out? … We have our adult nutrition program running today, we have a large distribution down in Carpinteria,” Lopez said. “So, I got with the team, and here’s the game plan and this is what we’re going to do.”
The Foodbank’s cooler and freezer remained unharmed, allowing staff to access the food and continue to get distributions out.
“Sadly, we’re used to disasters by this point,” said Judith Smith-Meyer, communications manager for the Foodbank. “[We’re] committed and continuing to send our trucks with food to the community, and partner agencies can still make their scheduled pickups this morning.”
Lopez added that SB Tree Care came out quickly, within 30 minutes, and began tree removal, which is expected to take most of the day.
Repairing the building, however, will take some more time. The upstairs offices are inaccessible, and Lopez said the insurance assessment still needs to take place.
It is currently unknown how long the repair will take or how much it will cost.
In the meantime, staff who would be working in these offices are working remotely.
“We’re just trying to get to the next step so we can get this fixed and get back to normal operations,” Lopez said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.