This fall, the Food Bank of East Alabama saw a rise in donations and volunteers, helping them to fight against food insecurity in East Central Alabama.

The big boost came in part from the Beat Bama Food Drive, with Auburn students working from the from the beginning of October until the week before Thanksgiving to collect more donations than the University of Alabama's team, Beat Auburn Beat Hunger. During this time, the organization encourages students, alumni, and members of the community to either donate canned goods or give a charitable donation.

"That entails doing concourse hours, collecting cans door to door, or promoting donating on social media," said Mark Burgess, a committee member with Beat Bama. Through this hard work from members of Beat Bama, the organization was able to collect over 255,916 pounds of food for the Food Bank, which was the second highest total in the organization's history.

All of this work aided the Food of East Alabama in fighting against food insecurity across the state of Alabama.

According to the organization Feeding America, food insecurity is a prevalent issue statewide, with a reported 800,620 people struggling with hunger in Alabama alone, 247,140 of those being children.

Another alarming statistic is that people facing hunger in Alabama are estimated to report needing $406,639,000 more per year to meet their food needs. That being the case, many Alabamians rely on different non-profits and other similar organizations to meet their hunger needs, organizations like the Food Bank of East Alabama.

Located in Auburn, Alabama, the Food Bank's mission is to alleviate hunger, reduce food waste, and increase awareness of food insecurity throughout the greater Auburn-Opelika area. The organization accomplishes this goal by collecting donations from local grocery stores and through a variety of food drives throughout the year, from there processing those donations and distributing it out to over 200 agencies that serve seven counties across east Alabama, who then serve the public directly.

Agencies can be anything from local churches to an organization's who see a need in their community and these agencies combine to serve over 30,000 people a month.

To serve the most people possible, the Food Bank requires an ample amount of both donations and volunteers, and it isn't always easy.

Michelle Held, the program and volunteer coordinator at the Food Bank, explained that they stay consistent in both areas throughout the year, but some low periods periods do exist. She said, "Summers are usually our lowest volunteer time."

Tony Laney, salvage coordinator of the food bank, agreed. He said, "We have high and low months, but during the summer time that is when we have the lowest amount of donations."

Fortunately, the Food Bank sees a big turnaround in both areas during the fall. "The fall is when we see an increase," according to Held. "We will see a lot of offices from Auburn University who sign up, we see a lot of businesses who come in, along with students who need service hours for different classes and organizations, so we do see an increase of groups in the fall."

The increase in volunteers helps speed up processing, which helps to get all the donations out to the agencies that much faster. In the fall, the salvage area needs all the help it can get with all of the donations they receive through the Beat Bama Food Drive."Our best donation time is during the Beat Bama Food Drive," Laney proclaimed. "That is when people from all walks of life come and volunteer with us."

Held said that the holiday season is a great period for donations and volunteers for the Food Bank as well. "We see a huge increase between the end of October and the week when we close right before Christmas. People's schedules free up a bit more and companies also encourage their employees to get out and serve during this time of year."

Similarly, Burgess commented that their best time of the Beat Bama food drive was right before the holidays. He said, "We usually get the most donations the week before Thanksgiving. We collected more food that week than any other week."

Both Laney and Held expressed they are appreciative of all of the support the Food Bank receives from the community throughout the year.

The staff at the food bank share a true passion for what they do for the community. Held said, "I love that we are able to make a difference in people's lives. It is fulfilling a mission and a purpose." Laney also expressed his love for what he does. He said, "I have been a servant my whole life and this is my way of still being a servant. I get the chance to help someone and at the end of the day I go home and I feel really good about what I've done because I know I helped someone."

The Food Bank staff will look to carry the success of this fall into the next calendar year where they will continue to serve the community, one can at a time.