Chester County Food Bank, Red Cross join forces to feed residents
Agencies are uniting in an effort to take care of approximately 100 residents of Downingtown who experienced severe flooding in their homes and still have no power.
Volunteers will walk and drive the Brandywine neighborhood to deliver food and drinks to households who haven’t eaten in 24 hours as a result of the flooding. They will meet at 7:15 p.m. at 30 Brandywine Ave. in Downingtown, close to corner of U.S. and Brandywine Avenue, said a news release from the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania.
The food is being provided by the Chester County Food Bank, said Dave C. Schrader, a Red Cross spokesman. He said this is the first mobile feeding the regional Red Cross has needed to do anywhere in its area in at least three years.
Denise Graf, who heads the Chester County Disaster Action Team for the Red Cross, said the agency received a call this morning from a homeowner who needed assistance because water had risen to the top step of her basement. She said while Red Cross representatives were in the neighborhood, they realized that many others were in the same situation.
“They have no power so there’s no way they can cook anything, and they don’t want to leave because they’re in the middle of pumping out the water,” Graf said.
Graf said the Red Cross has been going door-to-door to let people know that dinner will be coming. “They’re pretty excited,” she said. “Many of them haven’t eaten all day.”
