Food Bank of East Alabama

As you can imagine, it can be challenging to handle and store the thousands of incoming pounds of food we deal with each month, and having the containers to hold this product is critical. When the Food Bank runs low on heavy-duty cardboard totes, we turn to our friends at Aptar CSP Technologies for help. This week they generously donated many totes which will play a big role in the coming months.

A wonderful group of volunteers.

It was a perfect day for service! We split the group into three service locations in the morning – O Grows Opelika, Esperanza House, and the Food Bank of East Alabama. After a break for lunch (and to cool down), the group experienced what day-to-day life is like for families living at or near the poverty line with the Poverty Simulator. You can view all of our photos on our stories or through this link: https://bit.ly/4fzLmdM

Such a great opportunity to meet and hear from one of the nation's leading hunger experts with a portion of the proceeds going to the Food Bank of East Alabama - See you there!

🥬🥕🍞Feeling the pinch on your grocery budget? Let's change that! SNAP could be the help you need! 🍌🍗🍤

By applying for SNAP, you could significantly increase your grocery budget, meaning better, healthier meals for you and your family! 🥗🍎🥦

Don’t stress over the application process‼️ You can apply either over the phone 📞 by calling 877-833-2550, or online 💻 at www.benefitsenrollmentcenter.org. It's as simple as that!

Let's make sure your fridge and pantry are always full! 🍽️🛒

🌽🍇🥑🥩

One of the great resource people for the Food Bank is Janet Johnson, Regional Agent for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Ms. Johnson’s area of specialty is Food Safety & Quality and we have often turned to her for expert advice when questions or concerns come up. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors from 2013 – 2022, she has also provided ServSafe training for Food Bank staff and conducted workshops for our member agencies. Her professionalism combined with a straight-talk communication style makes her a true asset!

We couldn’t be more proud of our Operations Manager Callie Leaver who just completed a bike ride across the United States from Washington DC to Washington State. This Great American Rails-Trail cross-country trip was organized and sponsored by Warrior Expeditions and included biking 3,800 miles across 12 states. The stamina, commitment, courage and amazing perseverance she showed doesn’t come as a surprise to those of us who know her and work with her.

I think the Food Bank warehouse might actually be a little closer to the sun…..

A wonderful way to get the campaign started!

This was a hard-working team! Nice of Mayor Fuller to add his support.

If you’ve never seen one of these packings in action, it’s hard to adequately describe. It sometimes looks like chaos but despite the high heat and humidity, these hard-working volunteers packed more than 40,000 meals for distribution. Kudos to the United Way “Dream Team”—we are honored to be involved.

Such wonderful volunteers!

We had a blast packaging meals this morning at United Way Kickoff! With 40,000 meals packaged, the United Way Kickoff Campaign is sure off to an amazing start! 🎉💪

We love partnering with Big House in the work they do for foster families.

One of our BigHouse parents shared this and gave me permission to share as well. THANK YOU to all our amazing volunteers that make our programs and services for foster and adoptive parents possible! We appreciate your help so much- and so do our families! Everyone can do something!

With CARES funding from the City of Auburn, AL - City Government to purchase a refrigerated storage trailer and funding from the Heart of Alabama Food Bank to build up the concrete dock and complete the electrical work to power the trailer, this storage trailer is greatly enhancing the Food Bank’s ability to receive, store and distribute perishable food.

We’re proud of Olympian Suni Lee and remembering the time she visited and volunteered at the Food Bank of East Alabama.

Come see us at Opelika’s Neighborhood Mobile Wellness Center today to get free produce as well as free blood pressure, blood sugar, and weight screening! We'll be here until 1:00pm. We hope to see you soon!

Location: 200 Samford Way Opelika, AL 36801

You know the Food Bank loves a challenge, right…so what about this one? Over the past several weeks, we have received 39 TOTES of watermelon! Our stellar distribution staff has done an amazing job getting this wonderful product distributed to our agency network, and we now have less than 400 pounds in stock! The beneficiaries, of course, are the people who are served by our agencies who are enjoying this refreshing fruit.

This year Kroger celebrates its 140th anniversary and this company remains focused on its purpose-driven strategy to increase access to quality, affordable fresh food for everyone. Thankfully this includes strong support for the Food Bank of East Alabama. So far in 2024, Kroger has donated 210,356 pounds to our Food Bank!

A great resource for AU students and employees.

Last evening, we were joined by enthusiastic and hardworking kids from Farmville Baptist Church. As part of their “Summer of Service”, they are volunteering in the community to learn how to serve others. They sorted through 800 pounds of potatoes and bagged them up to distribute at an up-coming mobile food pantry distribution.

Thanks to Starbucks partners (employees) and The Starbucks Foundation for recognizing how the Food Bank is making our community stronger and supporting our work.

Publix and its customers are feeding more together. Publix, along with its customers, is working to help put food on the tables of neighbors in need through their “Feeding More Together” campaign. Today a Publix truck delivered 5 pallets of assorted dry food to the Food Bank.

A good reason to shop at Kroger!

Hot summer days call for long, drawn-out grocery trips

Did you know? A donation bin sits outside the Food Bank’s big roll-up door, and non-perishable food can be dropped off 24-7. It’s always a delight to arrive in the morning and see the bin filled with donations that came in overnight. We need the food and are very grateful for the community’s support.

Thank you so much to everyone who donates fresh produce from their gardens! We are so grateful for your generosity and helping us help our neighbors.

Since 2022, Golden Flakes has been a faithful donor to the Food Bank and, in fact, they have donated more than 70,000 pounds of product!

The Alabama Department of Human Resources is warning SNAP recipients of an “uptick” in phone scammers. DHR is unsure of how many scam calls there have been, but that it is over 100. Most go unreported. DHR encourages any SNAP recipient who suspects they have received one of these fraudulent calls or anyone who notices their benefits are missing to contact their local county DHR office immediately. Scammers will present themselves as employees of DHR or EBT Customer Service and try to get valuable information like EBT card numbers and PINs. DHR recommends never giving out PIN or personal information to anybody who is unfamiliar.