Emergency Volunteer Air Corps will visit Bend in food bank delivery disaster drill, seeks support from communities

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — To enhance emergency preparedness and ensure swift responses to crises, the Emergency Volunteer Air Corps (EVAC) has teamed up with 30x30 Fundraising, a nonprofit organization committed to supporting first responders and communities during natural disasters and crises.

Before June 8th, together, they are fundraising to purchase food to make flight deliveries to food banks across Washington and Oregon, including Bend, simulating emergency scenarios where traditional transportation routes may be compromised. Community assistance is requested.

During real crises, EVAC's volunteer pilots and the West Coast General Aviation Response Plan Disaster Airlift Response Team (DART) pilots and aircraft fleet will be pivotal in delivering vital supplies, including food, to affected areas and supporting other flight needs involving mass casualties. However, for this fundraising initiative supported by 30x30 Fundraising, EVAC will focus on delivering food to multiple county food banks in Washington and a few stops in Oregon coordinated by two dedicated teams.

The first team will serve food banks in Point Roberts, Island County, Skagit County, and Jefferson County. The second team will assist Walla Walla, Mason County, King County, Grays Harbor, Bend, and Aurora food banks. To ensure realistic simulations and operational readiness, both teams require $15,000 each to purchase food equivalent to a pound per dollar, totaling $30,000.

30x30 Fundraising seeks community help for donations to meet this financial target. All proceeds will directly fund food purchases from Walla Walla Safeway and Bellingham Lakeway Fred Meyers for the simulated crisis missions, with 85% of food donations delivered by air going to local food banks in those counties and 15% staying locally to go by ground back to Miracle Food Network in Bellingham and food banks local to Walla Walla site upon the final landing.  Donors will also receive recognition as sponsors on the 30x30 Fundraising' link.

The volunteer pilots provide their services and aircraft for free, which is their tremendous contribution to supporting their communities.

"Your donation is a Trifecta of winning benefits: First, it helps stock food banks for immediate needs as part of a realistic disaster exercise. Second, it enables EVAC and the West Coast General Aviation Response Plan to refine their readiness for transporting goods in crises. Third, our credit card purchases of food donations add bonus commercial air miles for first responders seeking training instructors or conference travel assistance from 30x30 Fundraising," remarked Kendra Cook, CEO of 30x30 Fundraising, who specializes in funding First Responders.

“We make dollars (and time) do double, triple, and sometimes quadruple duty,” Cook added. “A Search and Rescue Dog will be a first-class passenger in the Point Roberts flight for additional nose work and disaster service training.”

Donate here: https://bit.ly/EVACFoodBankDeliveries

30x30 Fundraising has old-school values and operates without profiting from community crises or emergencies involving first responders.

If surplus funds after $30,000 continue, they will be spent in the following order:

1)  $1,500 (in total) goes to take-out pizza and water for all the 100s of volunteers at each county's end of the drill.

2) $8K goes to Bellingham Auxillary Communication Service for five laptops (for digital communication through HAM Radios and drones) and a pop-up tent with four sides and a door to keep equipment dry in their "ground zero" office.

After $39,500, all funds will be used for later exercises or other purposes similar to those directed by EVAC.  Donations are tax-deductible and entirely fee-free.

To learn more about 30x30 Fundraising, please visit www.30x30Fundraising.com. To learn more about EVAC, please visit: www.evac.org/northwest.htm