HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – After significant cuts to federal jobs and assistance programs, faith-based organizations in North Alabama are stepping up, putting their faith to work, to feed families.

On the first Sunday of each month, it’s normal to see cars line up at Abundant Life Food Pantry in New Market for a chance to take home a box of food for their families. What hasn’t been normal is the number of people who need help. Volunteers from the Abundant Life Seventh-day Adventist Church, which runs the pantry, say the numbers have increased dramatically since earlier this year.

“We’re hitting records on our distribution,” Lawanna Harris, the lead volunteer at Abundant Life Food Pantry, said. “I mean, we were averaging maybe 120, 125 boxes on any given Sunday. Now we’re 140, 170, and we hit over 200 this past Sunday.”

As food prices rise, cuts to federal jobs and programs have left people needing more help putting food on the table.

The director of the pantry, Joan Robinson, says individuals who used to be their donors are now coming through in need of support.

“Job loss is real in our community, Robinson said. “Some individuals have lost jobs because of contract failures, veterans who are coming through, adults with kids, and senior citizens who have to choose between medication and eating.”

According to the Food Bank of North Alabama, approximately 187,000 people across the region are food insecure. Abundant Life is one of many faith-based organizations in North Alabama that partners with the food bank to fight hunger through faith.

Bobby Bozeman, the Development Director at the Food Bank of North Alabama, says that last year they distributed over 15 million pounds of food.

“We couldn’t do it without our organizations. The majority of them are faith-based. They’re out every weekend, every other weekend, or once a month, really serving the community, being hands-on, and making sure people get fed,” Bozeman said.

He says other churches and faith-based organizations are seeing a similar increase in need this year.

“We hear all the time from the groups that we work with that, you know, you may have a church congregation that’s 30 people and they’re serving 200 people, and now it’s up to three, four, or five hundred people, a week or a month,” Bozeman said.

So, while more federal cuts are looming, these churches are stepping up, using food and faith to fill the gap.

“Not just food for thought, but they need something for their spirit as well,” Harris said. “They can get that here.”

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