Food Bank of North Alabama – Harvest News – Winter 2023

Be a part of something nutty at the Food Bank of North Alabama and HELP ‘SPREAD THE LOVE’!

The Food Bank of North Alabama is collecting peanut butter for a good cause: helping people fighting to overcome food insecurity.

The common – and delicious – pantry staple has been harder to come by since recalls affected supply. So we’re putting out a call that all February long we’re collecting peanut butter and other nut-based spreads.

“Peanut butter is pretty important to us,” said Chris Birdwell, food sourcing coordinator at the Food Bank of North Alabama. “It’s got good fat in it, so it’s a good source of calories and it also has a fair amount of plant-based protein, which is good for people who have dietary restrictions.”

The protein and fat combo means that peanut butter keeps you feeling fuller for longer.

“If you’re trying to maximize hunger relief, it’s a solid candidate for that. Especially for people who don’t consume meat,” Birdwell said. “And as long as the kids are not allergic to it, it’s hard to find a child that doesn’t love peanut butter in some form.”

And while peanut butter is getting easier to find in stores, the Food Bank has struggled to keep it in stock.

“We’ve been mostly out of it for quite some time,” Birdwell said. “We’re getting some but not enough to satisfy the demand at all.”

If you want to help stock up the Food Bank’s supply of peanut butter for Spread the Love, you can bring by any sealed jar of peanut butter that’s in date to the Food Bank of North Alabama at 2000-B Vernon Ave., Huntsville AL 35805, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4 pm through the month of February. The Food Bank also accepts food donations at that location all year long.

Do you want to help the Food Bank of North Alabama fight hunger in our community? Consider volunteering! For more information contact:

Christi Garris at cgarris@fbofna.org or 256-791-2082.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

FALL HUNGER SUMMIT BRINGS

ANNUAL AGENCY CONFERENCE BACK

In late September 2022, the Food Bank of North Alabama relaunched its annual Hunger Summit, a day of learning and collaboration for the over 210 partners that the Food Bank works with to distribute food across an 11-county coverage area.

Alissa Mackiewicz Mike Monis

Schofield

The Hunger Summit had been on a brief hiatus since 2020 due to COVID. By autumn 2022 the Food Bank decided the time was right to relaunch the long-standing conference. For the first year back, the Food Bank wanted to focus on the needs of its agency partners instead of inviting the public.

The Food Bank had 68 agency representatives come from across its coverage area to hear updates from Food Bank staff, a special keynote address on child hunger and to participate in two series of learning sessions that covered topics such as advocacy, volunteer engagement, food pantry best practices, fundraising and SNAP. Learning session leaders included staff from the Food Bank of North Alabama, Feeding Alabama, agency partner panels and staff from Feeding the Gulf Coast Food Bank.

Michele Pepper, agency relations manager at the Food Bank of North Alabama, said that agencies learned a lot from the sessions, but they also learned from each other.

Chyna Smith Agency Services Representative Susan Szczepanski Special Programs Assistant Allison Parks Donor Services Assistant

“They really enjoyed sharing ideas and meeting each other,” Pepper said of the participants. “It was great to facilitate those connections between agency partners. During the best practices session, we had agency partners share their experiences and the other agency representatives were very engaged over both similar and diverse experiences. They saw where they are different and how they do things similarly.”

Nearly 90 percent of the over 11 million pounds of food the Food Bank distributes makes its way to people struggling with food insecurity via its network of 210 agency partners, which include organizations such as Manna House, the Salvation Army and Downtown Rescue Mission.

“Our agencies really took away that they are part of a larger group that is working across our coverage area to serve the communities in need,” Pepper said.

Baites

Terrance Lewis

Jermaine Douglass

As part of his keynote address, Dr. Brandon Renfroe a teacher at Geraldine High School, said that there is a teacher at his school who works closely with the Hispanic community in their area, and sometimes takes them extra food to a trailer park to share with her students.

“The first time she went with boxes from the Food Bank, families raced to her car, thinking they had to be first to her car—or else the food would be gone,” he said. “But our teacher told them that things had changed now—that the Food Bank of North Alabama was helping us now—and that they would be able to receive food on a consistent basis.

“With tears in her eyes, our secretary said, ‘You tell them about that—and you tell them that we said, ‘thank you’ ’ —and indeed, we are thankful.”

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