A week after storms hit northwest Indiana, the Gary, Indiana blackout left families in Gary and nearby towns still reaching for food, water and other basics. At West Side Leadership Academy in Gary, a mobile food pantry was overwhelmed before it could keep up with demand.
Yvonne Stokes said about 150 people were served before the pantry ran out of food. She also said Gary Community School Corporation had handed out about 700 grab-and-go lunches over two days last week and ran out, while damaged food that could not be refrigerated had to be discarded.
West Side Leadership Academy in Gary
Stokes said the district had been working with the pantry since May. At West Side Leadership Academy, crews were dealing with fallen trees, water leaks and other damage, and the school could not reopen immediately even after electricity returned.
She said district workers had to go room by room to make sure the building was safe for students and staff. Stokes said the district was hopeful power would return to the building Tuesday, but the recovery work was tied to more than just getting the lights back on.
Lake Station and Hobart Township
Bill Carroll said the storm aftermath reached beyond Gary. He said Lake Station's fire department became a central hub for residents, providing food, a place to cool down, charging stations and a place to rest.
Fred Williams said Hobart Township had already handed out the food it had stockpiled and had no means right now to replenish it. He said the township's budget is less than $1 million a year and it has fewer than 10 employees, and that it had been serving hot dogs, hamburgers and other meals for days.
Georgia Hatfield in Hobart
Georgia Hatfield said her home in Hobart was without electricity for nearly six days. By the time the lights came back on, she said, her refrigerator was empty.
“Okay, power’s back on, but it’s an empty refrigerator and no means to replace it right now,” Hatfield said. She said this was the second major storm to wipe out her family's food supply, and that seeing strawberries felt like winning the lottery because it meant fruit was back in the house.
Hatfield said residents were still struggling to find reliable information, gas and other basic necessities, even after the outages began to ease. For families already through their stored food, the next need was not electricity alone but a way to restock before the shelves at home stayed bare.
