For 30 years, an annual fall food drive has demonstrated that when the University of Alabama and Auburn University work together, everybody wins.

Beginning in 1994, UA and Auburn have participated in a friendly competition to see who can raise the most food for their local food bank in the weeks leading up to the Alabama-Auburn football game. It’s “Beat Auburn Beat Hunger” in Tuscaloosa and in Auburn, it’s the “Beat Bama Food Drive.” UA’s food drive benefits the West Alabama Food Bank and Auburn’s benefits the Food Bank of East Alabama. 

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“What’s been absolutely amazing is to watch how over the years this has just grown and grown into really one of the largest food drives in the whole state,” said Martha Henk, executive director of the Food Bank of East Alabama.

Henk has been a part of the food drive since she started working at the Auburn food bank in 1995 and has enjoyed watching it evolve into what it is today.

“To see this grow to the extent that it has is incredibly heartwarming and it sure is coming at a time when our food supply in food banking has really been strained. So this drive really does have a huge impact on us and it provides food for us to be able to make holiday food available, but it lasts way beyond holiday time, too,” she said.

The Iron Bowl-inspired food drive unites students, faculty, alumni and community members to help fight hunger and poverty in east and west Alabama. Since its inception, UA and Auburn have raised more than 8 million pounds of food for Alabamians in need. 

During the food drive, students of both schools collect nonperishable food items as well as monetary donations. 

In keeping with the rivalry, both schools keep track of who raises more food and the winning school is honored at the Iron Bowl.

This year’s food drive ended Nov. 16, with Auburn winning by collecting a total of 686,807 pounds of food. Alabama collected 326,644 pounds of food, meaning that the two schools combined to collect more than 1 million pounds of food.

In 2022, UA and Auburn also collectively raised over 1 million pounds of nonperishable items to benefit regional food banks, with UA winning the competition a by raising a then-record 565,983 pounds of food.

Representatives from both food banks say the drive has made a huge impact on their ability to provide food for families in need during the holiday season and beyond.

“Even though hunger is present all year long, a lot of people really think of Christmas and Thanksgiving as big need times because that’s when families are gathering.. (and) it just makes it a little harder for the average person who is struggling with food insecurity,” said Jean Rykaczewski, the CEO and executive director of the West Alabama Food Bank, which recently relocated from its Northport warehouse to the Buffalo Rock warehouse off Alabama Highway 69 South in Tuscaloosa.

Rykaczewski said Beat Auburn Beat Hunger has made a significant impact on the food bank and the amount of food that is distributed into the community. Nonperishable items collected during the food drive will usually last the food bank until spring, Rykaczewski said.

The West Alabama Food Bank works with nine counties in West Alabama —  Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa ― and serves a population of more than 315,000 residents.

Rykaczewsk said the student-run food drive is a good way to bring the community together while also boosting awareness about food insecurity in Alabama.

“You have this one small group that is making an enormous impact across the state about the issues of what food insecurity and hunger can do to a family. And without that rivalry, without the competition of everybody joining in, you know, we would be missing that key learning piece,” she said.

While Rykaczewski said that while beating Auburn is always sweet, the important thing about the drive is that food gets to people in need.

“Well, of course us beating Auburn that’s what we always want, but really we’re just so thankful for the food for any amount that comes in, because we’re able to turn that right around and get it to families that need it,” Rykaczewski said.

For Auburn, helping families in need while also raising just a few more pounds than Alabama is the sign of a successful food drive.

However, in the end, everyone is a winner, Henk said.

“The thing about this is you know, everybody wins on this. The community wins, the people that are fed through the agency network wins, so it’s just all the way around just a win-win kind of an effort,” Henk said.

The Food Bank of East Alabama works with seven counties in east Alabama including: Lee, Macon, Tallapoosa, Chambers, Randolph, Russell and Barbour.

Henk said she believes the food drive is about more than just a friendly competition between two rivalry schools, it’s about bringing the community together to make a difference.

“I think one of the things that really amazes me is that one of the things that we’ve really been able to see is the difference that the community can make,” Henk said.

“You know, the competition that’s great. I mean, (Alabama) doesn’t mind beating Auburn and Auburn doesn’t mind beating Alabama, but at the same time, our shared goal is just making sure that we take care of our food insecure neighbors,” she said.

Reach Jasmine Hollie at [email protected].