Who is the Alabama Food Bank Association?

The Alabama Food Bank Association (ALFBA) was  founded in 2010 and works to end hunger by assisting the food bank  network in obtaining more food and funds, fostering public awareness of  the food banks’ mission, and creating partnerships to help alleviate  hunger in Alabama.

ALFBA plays an integral role in the fight to end hunger in  Alabama. ALFBA serves as a founding member of Gov. Kay Ivey’s End Child  Hunger in Alabama Taskforce, we are a proud member of the Feeding  America Network, and our organization founded the first summer meals  program in Florence, Auburn, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. During our three  years as a summer meals sponsor, we have provided more than 125,000  meals to over 3,000 children.

We work to help align efforts of Alabama’s eight food banks to  ensure food and funds are serving needs throughout our great state. Our  work throughout the state to address policy and programs related to  hunger has been recognized by the United States Department of  Agriculture (USDA), Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), and  Feeding America. Our office has provided policy briefings to local,  state, and federal elected officials on the nature of food insecurity in  Alabama.

In 2014, ALFBA began working with the USDA Southeastern  Regional Office on addressing Alabama’s designation as a “target state”  for summer meals- meaning our state had a large percentage of children  on free and reduced lunch who did not have access to meals due to  schools being closed in the summer and lack of summer meals sites. ALFBA  opened four sites in Florence, Alabama during summer 2014. During  summer 2017, our reach will have expanded to include 30 sites in  Florence, Huntsville, and Birmingham. In 2016 Alabama was selected as  one of three states by the National League of Cities to receive special  funding for cities to expand their summer and after school feeding  programs. ALFBA was selected to serve as the anti-hunger organization to  lead this effort. Over $300,000 was brought into the state from ALFBA’s  partnership with the National League of Cities to expand this work in  the following Alabama cities: Alabaster, Anniston, Brewton, Clanton,  Florence, Huntsville, Hobson City, Mobile, Prattville, Russellville, and  Tuskegee.

The Alabama Food Bank Association operates three programs in  conjunction with an array of policy initiatives.Through our advocate  training program, we educate food bank agencies, elected officials and  community partners on the nature of food insecurity in Alabama.  Far too  many Alabamians believe that hunger is a problem mainly faced by  third-world countries; yet one in four children and one in six adults in  our state face food insecurity, while a quarter of the state lives in a  food desert. The challenges that face our food banks are immense; from  connecting the most rural parts of our state with food to serving  inner-city blighted neighborhoods, we reach every corner of our state on  our mission to end hunger in Alabama. Educating others on the reality  of hunger in Alabama is an important facet of our work in building  awareness and understanding of our neighbors silent struggles and of the  work of our food bank network. Our outreach and education program also  includes the Alabama Legal Food Frenzy, where we work with the Alabama  Bar Association to raise awareness and funds to support the work of our  four Feeding America food banks and four Feeding America Partner  Distribution Organizations.