Brown Bag Program

“Feeding the hungry from the heart” is more than just a slogan for the staff of the Wiregrass Area United Way Food Bank. It is a mission they work daily to fulfill. In the cold months of winter, it is a mission that takes on even more importance, especially for the 1,600 senior citizens who are enrolled in the Brown Bag Program.

It is through the “Souper Bowl” Food Drive that the Food Bank is able to provide warm, nourishing soup to the Brown Bag participants each winter.

To date, the campaign has brought in 8,000 pounds of food, which is 2,000 pounds shy of the event’s goal. Even though the drive itself has ended, Shirley Henderson, assistant director at the Food Bank and coordinator of the Brown Bag Program, says donations are still needed and are being accepted daily at the Food Bank, 382 Twitchell Road.

“This effort is a way for us to give our senior citizens six more weeks, like winter, of hot meals,” Henderson said. “If we reach our goal, we can give each one four to six cans of soup in February. That would be more than 10,000 cans of soup just in this month.”

The soup drive started in January and reached its peak during the week leading up to the NFL’s Super Bowl Sunday.

“The Food Bank gets depleted during the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas),” Henderson said. “We start right after the holidays collecting cans of soup. It’s something that we have been doing for more than 12 years.”

“We’re depleted in January, because so much of our food is distributed between October and December,” added Julie Brown Gonzalez, special projects coordinator for the Food Bank. “We distribute 75 percent of our food during those three months. Fortunately, we have a lot of volunteer groups that help us during October, November and December.”

Although the holiday months are the busiest months of the year, Gonzalez says every week is busy at the Food Bank.

“There are 240 agencies, including the Brown Bag Program, that purchase food from the Food Bank,” Gonzalez said. “Within a two-week span, every one of the agencies will have come to the Food Bank. On average, 17 come per day, and 70,000 pounds of food goes to these agencies from the Food Bank each week.”

It is that demand that makes food drives, like the “Souper Bowl” critical. Unlike past endeavors, Henderson says this year’s “Souper Bowl” campaign saw an increase in people wanting to help.

“The most exciting thing about this year was that people came to us to be a part of this drive,” Henderson said. “We didn’t really have to go out and ask. Toyota of Dothan and 94.3 The Joy came to us and offered their assistance. Southside Baptist Church has been a big help. They have served as a collection site every year. They average collecting more than 300 pounds of food. It was good that we didn’t need to look for sponsors for the Souper Bowl effort this year.”

As part of their support, Toyota of Dothan donated a case of soup every time a customer purchased a new vehicle from the dealership. Needless to say, their campaign was very successful.

“They donated three Toyota Tundra’s full of soup this year,” Henderson said.

Monetary donations are also accepted. Henderson says $500 in donations came in while the Food Bank held a drive at Wal-Mart.

“We still need more donations for the Brown Bag Program,” Henderson continued. “Donations (of food or money) can be brought to the Food Bank, or, if the donation, especially of food, is large enough, we will come and pick it up.

“We appreciate the community’s support in this effort, and we thank everyone who helped us this year.”

Although the Brown Bag Program has reached its cap of 1,600 participants, Henderson says the program, which she runs with the help of 200 volunteers, is always in need of sponsors. She says $60 will sponsor an eligible senior for a year. The program provides food to its participants the third week of each month to help seniors have enough to eat for the remainder of the month.

“We do have a small waiting list for the Brown Bag Program,” Henderson said. “We need sponsors for when an opening occurs.”

The Food Bank has 17 distribution sites located in the six counties – Houston, Henry, Dale, Coffee, Geneva, Barbour – that it serves.

For more information about the Wiregrass Area United Way Food Bank, call 794-9775.