Bay Area Food Bank Receives $72,500 Grant

    The Community Foundation of South Alabama announced grants totaling more than $1.5 million to assist communities in Baldwin and Mobile Counties struggling to recover from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Bay Area Food Bank received a $72,500 grant to address the unmet needs of individuals, families and children significantly affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and its aftermath. The grants were made possible by a contribution received from the Fund for Gulf Communities,a program of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

     The Fund for Gulf Communities was created through an anonymous donation to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to enhance the resiliency of diverse communities along the Gulf Coast. The fund will achieve this goal by working with nonprofit organizations, such as The Community Foundation of South Alabama, that have strong ties to community-based organizations providing direct services to people in need.

     In response to record unemployment and underemployment as a direct result of the oil spill, Bay Area Food Bank deployed its Mobile Pantry Program along with its SNAP Outreach Program to those communities affected along the Central Gulf Coast.  By accompanying mobile pantry distributions, SNAP outreach advocates have the opportunity to reach several hundred individuals at one time who are potentially eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. The advocates are able to prescreen and advise individuals at mobile pantry distributions as well as carry completed applications to state offices for processing. The SNAP Outreach Program breaks down barriers in the application process and allows more people to receive the federal funds for which they are eligible.

     Dave Reaney, executive director of Bay Area Food Bank said, “Bay Area Food Bank has struggled to continue our support of those impacted by the recession and last year’s oil spill.  The churches and nonprofit organizations who teamed up with us for our Mobile Pantry Program in Mobile and Baldwin counties have been tremendous and these funds from The Fund for Gulf Communities through the Community Foundation are going to allow us to continue to support them and the people who come to them for help.  With one in four children and one in six adults in south Alabama classified as food insecure, helping families and children in particular is more important than ever.”

     The grant will allow mobile pantry distributions totaling approximately 250,000 additional meals to be conducted in Mobile and Baldwin counties as well as assist in funding the food bank’s SNAP Outreach Program.  The communities receiving the food bank’s assistance represent a large concentration of workers in the fishing, shrimping and seafood industries.  The food bank also takes fresh produce picked up through its Retail Store Level Pickup Program and delivering it to the same affected areas.   Additional distributions take place to assist unemployed and underemployed tourist industry workers in Orange Beach, Foley and Spanish Fort, Alabama.