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Local food bank collecting donations for tornado relief efforts in Midwest

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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The clean-up continues in the Midwest after tornadoes ripped through the area destroying homes and uprooting lives. Now, a Southwest Florida food bank is trying to lend a helping hand.

The Midwest Food Bank is sending food, water, cleaning supplies, anything that can help people piece their lives back together.

So far, they have delivered five shipments of disaster relief supplies and one of those was delivered Wednesday to Dayton, Ohio where tornadoes caused severe damage last week.

Two other deliveries went to Jefferson City, Missouri where more massive twisters touch downed destroying many homes and businesses, putting a strain on many families.

But not all of it is for tornado recovery.

Two shipments were taken to parts of Iowa that were hit hard by flooding.

The food bank sent up several food boxes with each being enough to feed a family of four.

They also delivered cleaning and hygiene products.

The Midwest Food Bank said the need is there and donations are needed because they anticipate sending up several more trucks to help those in the Midwest.

“When we engage in disaster relief efforts, we stay until the relief effort is done but on top of that we saw here in south Florida hurricane season has started,” said Karl Steidinger with Midwest Food Bank.

At the same time, the food bank is also bracing for hurricane season.

The past two seasons were very active and the food bank said they are stocking up.

“We already have some supplies gathered and we are bracing for another active hurricane season,” said Steidinger.

Steidinger said if you want to help, financial contributions are best because it allows them to respond quickly.

You can also find a full list of items by clicking here. They plan on sending more items to disaster areas and using the rest to stock up for hurricane season.