Food Network Tabletop Exercise Summary

• The Food Network began facilitating communication – asking for brief status/impact reports and sharing meeting information and incident links – through the WhatsApp group and email (chat was used instead of email for the purpose of the exercise). Organizations responding describing building and operational impacts. 
• Throughout this portion of the exercise, many organizations, like Martha’s Kitchen and the Food Bank, ramped up operations. Emergency shelters were set up, and faith-based organizations provided mental health support. A central goal was to address food insecurity and mobilize volunteers, with some organizations offering resources like kitchens, trucks, and cold storage.
• The food network web page (password protected) was used as a hub to track organization’s impacts, resources, and needs. The top bar red bar on the page labelled “Active Disaster” showed the incident information and important links (ex. Incident command web pages), a map with organization and incident info, and an impact form with results shown below the link on an editable excel sheet.
• It was discussed that, as CADRE assesses responses, it will assist with connecting unmet needs to resources. When needed will activate network meetings to help facilitate coordination. CADRE mentioned that they may ask for volunteers to support incident coordination.
• Responses on the impact form:
  • Directed organizations to food recovery resources
  • Provided status updates on the operations of different organizations
  • Listed barriers and unmet needs for operations
  • Sought out resources including volunteers, generators, safety managers, produce, transportation equipment, and
  • Offered resources such as secure food storage facilities, produce, volunteers, cooking facilities, and vehicles.

3-7 Days into the incident

The Food Network hosted their first meeting three days into the incident and, due to the small number of participants, conducted a round table where organizations shared anticipated impacts, needs, and resources for the first week of the incident. It was discussed that, in the event of a real emergency, where hundreds of people may participate in the meeting, participants would be asked to raise their hand or put information in the chat instead of conducting a round table. A summary of the round table is provided below:

• • Cal DART’s air lift is ready to support response, picking up supplies and survivors as needed
  • Joint Ventures/County Food Recovery Council is connecting organizations wanting to volunteer food with organizations in need for food recovery.
  • Question on organizations donating food from farm, CADRE mentioned they would be connect the organization with the county food recovery council
  • Sourcewise has network of volunteers to mobilize, is pushing information out, and is supporting food delivery to clients
  • Martha’s Kitchen is still active, providing food operations and volunteers.
  • Evergreen Islamic Center has food storage and cooking facilities to support the incident.
  • Vesta Food service is still operational, but is not making deliveries. They offered drivers, refrigerated trucks, and refrigeration capacity. They also mentioned the need to donate highly perishable excess inventory.
  • Santa Clara County Ag Liaison mentioned they are operational and ready to assist. Their South County Office is acting as a hub for food drop-off (from farmers) and pick-up (for residents)
  • Chefs to End Hunger is recovering food from their operators
  • Peninsula Food Runners can provide meals and volunteers
  • WVCS has 2 sites open, but is low on food stores. They are working with local markets and stores to distribute perishable and bulk foods to regular distribution sites. Their generators are working but need refueling soon. They have vehicles to help move food  to where it’s needed.
  • Loaves and Fishes commercial kitchens in San Jose and Morgan Hill are operational, however there are delays with food vendors. They need bulk produce and proteins and have two cold storage containers damaged – which are holding 5,000 meals. They need cold storage space ASAP and have a fleet of 14 hot and cold storage vehicles for distribution.

Post exercise hot was

• Participants were happy with the overall CADRE and Food Network structure for facilitating collaboration and communication during emergencies and found the exercise useful.
• Tips for improvement included
  • Having an additional back up to Whatsapp (such as Wechat)
  • Providing handheld radios to support network leaders.
• Luna asked for additional feedback and any updates to the tools and/or web page to be emailed to Luna@cadresv.org 
• Become a member of the Food Network:
  • To be considered an active members of the Food Network, please sign up for the WhatsApp group and/or email Luna@cadresv.org with the email(s) where you would like to be reached.
  • Active participation solely requires maintaining an up to date contact with CADRE
  • Quarterly meeting participation is encouraged but not required. The most important meeting to attend will always be the first meeting of each year, where the network hosts is annual table top exercise.
• Become a CADRE Partner: To engage in the County VOAD and ensure you receive emergency communication, even when the food network is not activated, download the CADRE-Partner-Agreement_2025 and email the completed form to admin@cadresv.org.