WEST ALABAMA FOOD BANK INC

The WAFB was incorporated in 1987 to nine West Alabama counties including Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa. We have three main programs: Secret Meals for Hungry Children, Brown Bag Program for Seniors, and a Mobile Food Pantry program that provides food to rural areas.

Secret Meals for Hungry Children provides students with food packs in their backpacks on the last day of school before a weekend or holiday. Each food pack contains items such as easy pull-tab cans, juices, crackers, etc. All items are child-friendly, nonperishable, easily consumed and vitamin-fortified. The pack’s weight makes it easy for young children to carry in their backpack.

The Brown Bag Program delivers over five hundred and twenty bags of food to primarily elderly citizens who are living below the poverty line in our nine county service area. Each bag contains more than thirty pounds of food. The bags are delivered at no cost to the recipient. Volunteers deliver the bags during the third week of the month to ease the difficult decision of whether to buy food or medicine.

The Mobile Food Pantry delivers 10,000 lb. of food to the rural parts of our service area. People in these areas primarily live below the poverty line and do not have access to agencies. The WAFB provides a mobile pantry each week to a different area.

After the April 27th tornadoes, the WAFB provided over 1 million pounds of disaster relief products such as food and other necessities. We provided packages for areas hard hit such as Hackleburg and Alberta City.

In response to the disaster, we have also developed a program in which families affected by the storm can have their pantries restocked.