Brian and Corin Mullins, makers of Holy Crap cereal, have enough cereal stockpiled to feed the entire Sunshine Coast for a week, should an emergency ever warrant it.
"That was the original plan when we went to Aspire was to create an emergency survival kit, and it came to pass that when we met with Sunshine Coast emergency services people they said 'just make it in your factory and if anything goes wrong, officials will take over the factory and disperse the cereal,'" said Brian.
Currently he and Corin have about 35,000 bags of cereal in their warehouse in Gibsons, which is more than enough to feed Coast residents in the event of an emergency that cuts us off from food providers.
Brian said the cereal is stored in waterproof, airtight, light and heat proof packaging and will be rotated with new stock monthly to keep supplies fresh.
Emergency Program co-ordinator Bill Elsner said the gift of survival food is welcome, but notes it doesn't mean people should rely on it and not have their own food reserves on hand.
"I think its another resource that we have available to us," Elsner said. "It certainly isn't going to solve the problem during a disaster and it certainly doesn't mean that people should not plan and prepare themselves for at least one week. It enhances our food security that we're trying to make more robust here with people growing gardens."
Elsner said the move by Brian and Corin is a "great example of corporate responsibility.""It's something we'd like to see other companies and businesses on the Coast do, to step up to the plate with similar types of offers. I'm certainly going to be working on that aspect of things," Elsner said.
In the event of an emergency, he said the most needy would be given Holy Crap cereal first.
"All food would go to the most vulnerable people first, people who don't have the capacity to store a week's worth of food," he said, again reiterating that it is up to each individual on the Coast to be prepared for an emergency.
"This is a mixed message that's coming out. Don't think that we're going to be feeding you and don't think that there's even going to be necessarily a lovely place for you to evacuate to. I mean, it didn't work that way for Japan, and they're far more prepared than we are."
