Orange County Grantmakers

Preparing and Planning: Emergency Food Response in Orange County

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In the wake of the recent fires in Los Angeles, emergency food response leaders are reflecting on both the lessons learned and strategizing for how to plan for more effective disaster response in the future.

Orange County Grantmakers (OCG), a nonprofit which serves as a hub for funders who want to be more strategic and impactful in their giving, provided the space for philanthropy, government and nonprofit leaders to share best practices currently being considered in the space of food emergency response. 

A key challenge in the space of food focused emergency response is the diverse range of experiences during disasters. Even people not directly affected by fires faced secondary impacts, such as health issues. Kelvin Garvanne with the City of Los Angeles shared there is a high need for culturally appropriate responses and coordinated information, particularly in a world where misinformation can spread rapidly. While immediate food is a necessity, Garvanne highlighted that solutions lie in policy, infrastructure, and technology, supported by trusted information sources to keep communities safe and informed.

Another challenge that was made clear during the recent fire response is the difficulty in efficiently deploying emergency resources during crises. While many people were ready to donate food or volunteer, determining where those resources were most needed often proved challenging. This underscores the importance of establishing pre-existing networks, collaborations, and partnerships before a crisis strikes.

Communities must also be aware of the impact that the redirection of essential services during emergencies has on neighboring areas. As attention and staffing is directed to the directly impacted areas, other communities may be left underserved. Organizations must plan for adequate staffing to ensure food delivery operations run smoothly; and have contingency plans in place to address the risk of unintended consequences when well-meaning volunteers take action without clear guidance. This becomes especially critical when individuals or groups who have not participated in coordinated planning efforts such as city, county, state, or federal disaster planning meetings, or engaged formally through Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with coalitions like COAD step in to help. Without alignment to established protocols, their efforts can unintentionally create confusion or hinder response efforts.

In Orange County, proactive measures are already in place. A network of 250 partners, along with a warehouse stocked with three months’ worth of shelf-stable food, ensures a solid foundation; however, it’s important to note that the availability of a three-month supply depends on the size and scope of the disaster and is not guaranteed. Additionally, during the early days of COVID-19, much of the food bank inventory was distributed within two weeks, and only replenished after additional resources began to arrive. Effective disaster planning must also consider language accessibility, trained volunteers, interconnected organizations, and culturally appropriate food that meets the needs of people under stress. Clear, accessible marketing will be essential to inform communities about where to find help.

In Orange County, nonprofits like Abound Food Care support the Emergency Meal Program, which utilizes repurposed kitchens and solar-powered refrigerated units. This strategy allows for the provision of medically tailored meals and utilizes collaboration to meet the need. 

The OC Hunger Alliance, a collaborative of Abound Food Care, Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, and Community Action Partnership’s OC Food Bank that seeks to optimize the emergency food system to address root causes of poverty is also working to embed a disaster response model into the organization’s operations. Their strategy includes forming a preparedness working group, conducting a SWOT analysis and market assessment, and developing logistics strategies.

Philanthropy plays a vital role in disaster preparedness and response. Beyond immediate support, long-term funding is essential for building capacity and sustaining local organizations. In addition to food, the needs to respond to a disaster include things often overlooked by the general public such as technical skills in food safety and power tool operation during emergencies and engagement of for-profit partners in areas like banking, insurance, and supply chain management to bring expertise to disaster recovery efforts. Philanthropy must invest now in strong, ongoing relationships between philanthropic organizations and local nonprofits to ensure alignment and rapid response when a disaster occurs. 

The question unfortunately is not if a disaster will strike, but instead how will Orange County respond when it does. To ensure effective disaster response our community must prepare now and invest in collaboration and trust. By combining local expertise, policy innovation, philanthropic support, and cross-sector partnerships, we can build stronger, more resilient food systems that serve everyone—especially during times of crisis.

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Wajahat Ali

“With wit and charm, Ali delivers a masterful meditation on growing up brown in America...he gives us a clear-eyed affirmation of the country America could be.” — Mara Gay, New York Times

Mara Gay, New York Times

Wajahat Ali uses his platform to fight tirelessly for the social change we need in our country—and he isn’t afraid to get personal while doing it. The Daily Beast columnist and former New York Times writer, TED speaker, award-winning playwright, and Peabody-nominated producer of the documentary series The Secret Life of Muslims offers us his experiences of triumph over hardship as a beacon of hope and resilience in the face of life’s impossible situations. From his experiences of Islamophobia growing up as a Muslim Pakistani-American to his two-year-old daughter’s liver cancer diagnosis, Wajahat is living proof that when we share our authentic stories, we build the America we wish to live in.”

In his memoir Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American, Wajahat teaches us how to create our own superhero origin story, invest in hope for the future of America, and enact real social change. The book was called “biting and funny and full of heart” by NPR. Representative Ilhan Omar called Wajahat’s work “hilarious” and “deeply moving”, and legendary writer Dave Eggers said it was the book he’d “been hoping Wajahat Ali would write for ten years—hilarious, stylistically fearless, deeply humane.”

Wajahat is also the author of The Domestic Crusaders—the first major play about Muslim-Americans in a post-9/11 world. He was the lead researcher and author for the Center for American Progress’s seminal report “Fear Inc., Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” and served as a national correspondent for Al Jazeera America, where he told stories about communities and individuals often marginalized or under-reported in mainstream media.

As Creative Director of Affinis Wajahat Labs, he worked to create social entrepreneurship initiatives to support and uplift marginalized communities. He also worked with the US State Department to design and implement the “Generation Change” leadership program to empower young social entrepreneurs. Wajahat initiated chapters in eight countries, including Pakistan and Singapore. For his work, he was honored as a “Generation Change Leader” by Sec. of State Clinton and recognized as an “Emerging Muslim American Artist” by the Muslim Public Affairs Council. 

He has given keynote speeches around the world such as TED, The Aspen Ideas Festival, Google, the United Nations, and The New Yorker Festival. His writing appears regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and The Guardian. He’s a Senior Fellow at The Western States Center and Auburn Seminary and co-host of Al Jazeera’s The Stream.