Through tears, Kendra Miller said she used to skip meals to leave more food for her children. Because of the Heart of Alabama Food Bank, she no longer has to do that.
Miller’s husband is in the Air Force, and her family qualified for Hero’s Harvest, one of the food bank’s new programs that provides food for military families.
Hero’s Harvest is one of three new programs the food bank’s CEO Michael Coleman unveiled at a news conference April 23. The food bank is also launching programs called Park-It Market and Food as Medicine meant to help different areas of the community.
The Park-It Market is a mobile pantry that supplies fresh produce, dairy and shelf-stable foods to rural areas.
The Food as Medicine program provides tailored foods to patients with diabetes, cancer and other chronic illnesses.
Community leaders voiced support for the food bank, as the federal government has drastically cut the food bank’s funding from the United States Department of Agriculture. As a result of the cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, 23 trucks of food were canceled without notice, and the food bank lost almost $600,000 of funding, Coleman said.
Both Mayor Steven Reed and County Commissioner Isaiah Sankey vowed the city and county would help make up this lost money, but neither said exactly how much they would provide.
“This is a trying time for not just the Heart of Alabama Food Bank but so many organizations,” Reed said.
Sankey said the contribution from the county will be substantial.
For people like the Miller family, the food bank is a lifeline. “We need this help more than you can possibly know,” Miller said.
Thanks to the Hero’s Harvest program, she has food stocked in the pantry and freezer.
“I know where my family is going to be fed,” Miller said.
Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser’s education reporter. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @gladlyalex.
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