‘Tis the Season at the Community Food Bank

Since November, the Community Food Bank of Alabama has distributed 780,000 pounds of food. “This is our busiest season for food drives and volunteers,” says Mary Michael Kelley, assistant director, “but for the most part it’s business as usual in getting out food.”
Kelley says the Food Bank has had more volunteers this holiday season than in years past, averaging about 60 people a week. Volunteers are busy sorting food, labeling food cans and jars -- the Food Bank buys a lot of food without labels at significant savings -- and helping pack food in backpacks for the Weekenders Backpack program.
The Weekenders Backpack program provides nutritious foods for children who might otherwise go hungry on weekends or during the holidays. Teachers and school administrators identify children for the program. Currently three Jefferson County schools are participating in the program, and Kelley says the Food Bank hopes to add another in Shelby County and St. Clair counties in the coming year.
“We give out packs of food about twice a month to go home with kids on the weekend,” Kelley says. “The packs include at least two entrees, two breakfasts, two snacks, and we try to include a juice box or shelf stable milk.”
Kelley says the Food Bank would like to expand the program, but cost is a big factor. “One child in the program costs about $70,” she says. “Right now we have about 1100 children in the program. Fortunately, we’ve had some great sponsors step up this year, including Wal-mart Foundation, Morgan Stanley and The Daniel Foundation.”
Another successful program at the Food Bank is the Mobile Pantry, an initiative in conjunction with the Health Action Partnership and funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. The Mobile Pantry is a refrigerated truck filled with healthy fresh produce that goes directly into the communities that need it most.
“Through our refrigerated truck, we’re able to eliminate the problems our agencies had with storing large amounts of produce,” says Kelley. The refrigerated truck goes out to Food Bank member pantries and patrons can receive fresh produce in addition to their regular distributions. “It helps our pantries because they don’t have to have storage space for fresh produce. And it helps the folks getting the food because they’re getting fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables.”
The Mobile Pantry program has distributed just over 300,000 pounds of fresh produce this year at 40 participating pantries. “Next year we want to make it even more accessible,” Kelley says. “There might be people who need that food but can’t get to a pantry. We’ve talked about having food distributed at bus stops and places like that.”
While the holidays are a great time to donate time, money and food to the Community Food Bank, the organization accepts donations at any time of year. For more on the Food Bank, visit www.feedingal.org.