Next week will be a busy one for the Cullman Caring for Kids Food Bank. Then again, most weeks these days are.
On Saturday, May 13, the National Association of Letter Carriers is encouraging residents all across Cullman County (and beyond) to leave non-perishable food items at their mailboxes as part of Stamp Out Hunger, the association’s annual drive to collect food for people in need. Locally, that effort will benefit Cullman Caring for Kids, with area mail carriers collecting donated items on their Saturday routes for the food bank to process starting Monday.
“We’ll be picking up whatever they gather this coming Monday,” says Javon Daniel, the food bank’s senior director. “Some of it may need to be stored for a few days depending on the response we get this year, but that food will be in use at the food bank right off the bat. Hopefully, this weekend will be enough to give us a good start heading into the summer.”
Stamp Out Hunger — which locally gets a coordinating assist from United Way of Cullman County — isn’t the only food donation event set to replenish the food bank’s stores on Saturday. From 9 a.m. until noon, drive-up donors can leave nonperishable items at the Cullman Shred Day, staged in the parking lot of the King Edward Shopping Center along U.S. Highway 31 in south Cullman.
Daniel says this year has seen a marked increase in local demand for the food bank’s services, and he expects the need only to increase as local schools let out for summer, potentially leaving vulnerable young people without a guaranteed school meal each weekday.
“The need is very real. I haven’t heard yet whether schools are going to offer summer lunches this year, but school is going to be finished in about two weeks, and I think our numbers are going to increase,” he says.
The numbers, in fact, reflect a surge in the volume of applicants for the food bank’s services, as well as in the volume of food that Cullman Caring for Kids gives away.
“In 2022, we served 6,485 families overall,” says Daniel, noting that some of those represent repeat visitors from one month to the next. “We had 514 new families in 2022, which is about a month’s worth of what we were typically serving. The total weight of food that came through was 470,368 pounds, 360,320 of which came to us in the form of donated items from the community.
“Now, we’re going through anywhere from 12 to 15 tons of food each month. We’re way ahead of where we were last year, in terms of volume. In January, we had 719 families, which is almost twice as many as we did last year. We served 690 families last month. The food we take in doesn’t stay here long. It constantly turns over, and it turns over fast.”
To take part in Stamp Out Hunger this weekend, you can donate food items — including canned food, boxed food, and juice or other liquids that comes in bottles or pouches — by simply leaving them in, or within easy reach of, your mailbox on Saturday, May 13. Mail carriers will collect the food on their Saturday routes, with United Way and Cullman Caring for Kids coordinating to retrieve this year’s haul on Monday.
If you or someone close to you has need of the food bank’s services, Daniel says the simplest way to make contact is to visit the food bank’s offices at 402 Arnold Street NE, Suite W-1, in Cullman. The Cullman Caring for Kids Food Bank is open four days each week from Monday-Thursday, operating from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. daily (closed from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch).
“The first time you come through if you’ve never been here before, you will need a driver’s license or an ID card, and then we’ll give you the paperwork that we need you to fill out,” says Daniel. “If you don’t have all the information we require at that time, you can bring it with you when you return the following month. From your first visit, you’ll be able to drive away with food.”