In April 2020, Hoosier Hills Food Bank distributed the most supplies in its 38 year history.
(Adam Pinsker, WFIU/WTIU News)
On Wednesday night Bloomington city council heard an extensive report from Mayor John Hamilton’s social services working group on its COVID-19 response.
The group says the three main areas of focus over the last eight weeks has been: providing child care for essential workers, ensuring the health and safety of people in homeless shelters and making sure local food banks have enough supplies.
President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County Tina Peterson says they had to find enough space for more than 250 children.
“We generally in March, April and May do not need to provide care day in and day out to children who are ages 6 to 12. So the closing of school created a challenge that we really had never have had to address before," Peterson says.
Peterson says the two facilities helping out the most are the Boys and Girls Club and the Parks and Recreation Department.
"They developed what I think was a really innovative approach to serve children using a POD approach," Peterson says. "This is where no more than 8-10 children are together at once."
The group also says Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington has distributed more food in 2020 than all of 2019 combined.
"There were times when we felt the supply line was getting too stressed, but we never got to that point where we were in danger," President of the Bloomington Health Association John Barada says.
In April alone, Hoosier Hills gave out more than 590,000 pounds of supplies.
Barada says Hoosier Hills purchased 900,000 pounds of supplies for $68,000 in April.
"The contributions that we got from places like the United Way emergency relief helped us keep up with the demand," Barada says.
City Considers Towing Ordinance Changes
Next week on city council's agenda is a towing ordinance that makes some clarifications to the existing rules.
It also allows people getting towed a chance to regain their vehicle on-the-spot without being charged as long as the tow truck hasn’t lifted two tires off the ground.
City attorney Mike Rouker says this will help people better understand the rules.
“It will make it easier for towing companies to comply with the city’s rules and regulations and it will make it easier for police officers and other city staff members to ensure that when they’re enforcing these rules, they’re doing it properly," Rouker says.
Rouker says the ordinance also sets the storage fee for all towed vehicles at $25 per day if the vehicle sits in storage longer than 24 hours.
