BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBMA) — The Community Food Bank of Central Alabama serves tens of thousands of people across 12 counties in Central Alabama. Although there is a need around the holiday season, the need extends year round.
“During the pandemic, the need went up 30% and that has not really waned at all. We have fluctuating gas prices, inflation on food has gone up by 10% this year and so that really affects our families and what disposable income they have left each month to purchase food and nutrition food,” explained Nicole Williams, the food bank’s CEO. “We are also seeing less federal funding and pandemic related funding that has been in place for a couple years. Our budget in 24 is going to be about $2 million less than it was in 23, because federal funding and pandemic era funding is going away.”
Williams explained there is always a need for donations.
“When there’s less funding we are not able to buy as much food or get as much food out to our networks so we are always looking for ways to increase food donations whether it’s people doing community food drives or retail reclamation that comes from grocery stores, but we’re always looking for donations of either funds or food, especially during the holiday season,” she said.
The Community Food Bank of Central Alabama is preparing holiday food boxes. For those who are able to donate, there are certain items that are needed more this time of year to make that possible.
“We are always looking for food donations during the holidays and a lot of really good staples are good for the food bank. Green beans, corn. We know during the holiday’s we know people enjoy cranberry sauce and stuffing and things like that. The holidays are always about food and we worry about families that don’t have enough to put on the table or even the grandmother who wants to have her family over for Thanksgiving or the holiday dinner and she just doesn’t have enough to make that happen. We are here to stand in that gap and we’re here to help people have that traditional holiday meal and not have the stress of where that food is coming from,” said Williams.
Williams said the food bank takes a variety of food products, but there are items that people don’t as often think about. Williams listed ketchup, mustard, flour, cooking oil, butter and eggs as things that people also need when cooking meals at home for their families. Williams explained how monetary donations can also go a long way. The food bank is able to use that money to buy in bulk.
“Where as you might go to the grocery store and buy a can of green beans, you can give that $1.25 to the food bank and we can potentially buy three to four cans of green beans with that same amount money. We are trying to maximize the donor funds and based on community donations and other things we get from the community that we can supplement what we feel like people need to make meals for their household,” said Williams.
The goal is to end hunger one meal at a time and prevent families from having to make impossible choices. The food bank partners with more than 200 agencies across Central Alabama to help.
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Alabama Childhood Food Solutions is one of the partnering organizations.
Jim Jones, the co-founder, explained how it started 12 years ago out of the back of a pick up truck and has grown to serving thousands of people, including single parents, senior adults and children.
“A lot of those kids go to bed hungry at night and we didn’t know what to do,” said Jones.
The organization now has four big trucks and give out food on a regular basis. Jones said they have a warehouse in Sylacauga which serves seven counties and 38 schools.
Jones explained how the need has grown over the last year.
“We started 22 with 500 families in need we were serving regularly, now we’re at 1,150 families. That’s at least a 50% increase in the number of families we know of that have an urgent need for food assistance,” said Jones. “The economic itself is just dragging families down. We see people who work that don’t have enough money to supply their family. A young family with two parents working and three children, they need extra hundreds of pounds of food a month.”
He said there is always a need for more volunteers to get food in and out and help packing it. Jones said monetary donations are also valuable so they can purchase food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several of the big grocery stores at a cheaper rate.
Alabama Childhood Food Solutions is able to help with meat, fresh dairy, cheese, and fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Whether you’re hungry or food insecure, we are trying to make a difference,” said Jones. “Our goal is to help people especially during the holiday season, so they can have the same quality holiday I would have at my house.”
Anyone in need of food assistance can go to their website or can visit the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama’s website. From there, you can click the “find food” button and type in your zip code to be connected to resources near you.