September 2026 · Hunger Action Month
Ending hunger in West Alabamatakes all of us.
September is Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign led by Feeding America to raise awareness about hunger and inspire communities to take action. The message is simple: ending hunger takes all of us.
The West Alabama Food Bank works with more than 93 partner agencies to reach over 200,000 children, families and seniors each year across Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa counties. This September, we are asking our neighbors to help us reach more.
Hunger is here in our own backyard
1 in 4 Alabama children do not have reliable access to enough food. Alabama Department of Public Health. County rates from Feeding America, Map the Meal Gap.Across the nine counties we serve, food insecurity runs from roughly 15% to 31%, against a national rate of 14.4%. Alabama is one of the poorest states in the country, and rural southern counties like ours carry some of the heaviest need. Nearly half of the people facing hunger nationwide earn too much to qualify for SNAP, which is a large part of why the charitable food network exists at all.
Some of our neighbors live more than 25 miles from the nearest grocery store. Others are working, and still run out of food before the month does.
Behind every number is a neighbor. And every neighbor deserves access to the food and resources they need to thrive.
There’s a part for everyone
You do not have to solve hunger on your own to make a difference.
Volunteer
Sort and pack groceries, build Secret Meals bags for schoolchildren, or help deliver Senior Brown Boxes. Most shifts ask only a couple of hours. Call (205) 333-5353 to schedule. Groups are welcome during business hours and on select Saturdays in the fall.
Volunteer nowDonate
Every dollar you give provides about six meals. $140 sends one child home with a Secret Meals bag every weekend of the school year. $100 covers a Senior Brown Box for a full year.
Give nowAdvocate
Federal nutrition programs decide how far a family’s food budget stretches, and charitable food cannot close that gap alone. Tell your elected officials that West Alabama needs strong nutrition programs.
Take actionShare
Talk about hunger where you live. Share the facts, tell us how the food bank has touched your life, and follow along at @westal_foodbank on Instagram, Facebook and X.
Share your storyWear orange. Volunteer. Donate. Advocate. Share. However you choose to participate, your action matters. Together, we can make hunger more visible and inspire more people to be part of the solution.
Orange is the color of hunger awareness
Turn West Alabama orange
On September 29, Hunger Action Day, we’re inviting all nine West Alabama counties to turn orange in support of our neighbors experiencing hunger. Businesses, schools, churches, local governments and community organizations are all invited to participate.
- Wear orange at work, school or home
- Light your building, sign, fountain or landmark orange
- Share a photo on social media
- Tag @westal_foodbank
- Use the campaign hashtags
Planning to turn your building, business, school or organization orange? Contact us for more information and we will help you get started.
Our work happens year-round
Hunger does not follow a calendar, and neither does our work.
From our warehouse on 65th Street in Tuscaloosa, the food bank secures, stores and moves food out to more than 93 partner pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and senior programs across nine counties. September is when we ask. The other eleven months are when it goes to work.
Secret Meals
Free and reduced school meals stop on Friday. Secret Meals sends food home instead: about 1,800 meals packed each week and slipped discreetly into backpacks in Tuscaloosa, Greene, Pickens, Fayette, Lamar, Bibb and Marion counties.
Senior Brown Box
Groceries delivered by volunteers in the fourth week of the month, when a Social Security check has usually run out, to eligible neighbors 65 and older across eight counties.
Mobile Pantry
Truckloads of food taken directly to rural communities where the nearest grocery store can be more than 25 miles away.
Fifth Quarter
In the closing minutes of every home game at Bryant-Denny, volunteers recover and vacuum-seal food prepared for fans, roughly 2,200 pounds a game, and send it back out through our partner agencies.
Join us this September
Hunger in West Alabama is not abstract. It is a child whose weekend starts with an empty kitchen, a senior choosing between groceries and a prescription, a family in a county with no grocery store for 25 miles. Every hour volunteered, every dollar given and every conversation started this month helps close that gap.
Volunteer. Give. Speak up. Share.