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Neighborhood Bridges effort. What began as a
brainstorming session in his family basement,
Hoover Helps has grown to serve 524 kids in the
Hoover system by pairing churches with schools
to supply food to needy in Alabama. Together
his team helps to educate school leaders and
counselors on the signs of food insecurity, which
include children who are absent often, who rush
though meals or hoard food, and ones who visit
the nurse a lot. This educational effort reverberates,
and along with the ease of technological solutions
like Neighborhood Bridges, allows more kids to be
reached. In fact, you might say that the program is
“a gateway to kindness.”
Take action: Visit the Neighborhood Bridges
website, pick the community you’d like to help, log
social media. Monetary donations are also accepted
to help supplement food needs for Hoover Helps.
neighborhoodbridges.org
HUEYTOWN COMMUNITY HELPERS
What happens when you get caring and
determined people together in a church small
group talking? If you are in the room with Ginger
Parsons, community-church liaison for Hueytown
Community Helpers, then lives are going to be
changed. This neighborhood group that started
with only 13 church partners in 2018 has grown
quickly and now provides 177 school age kids
food every Friday during the school year to
combat weekend hunger though their “Blessings
in a Bag” program. Parson says, “In addition to
having the food in the bag, it’s the consistency of
it that matters—it’s something they can depend
on.” Every six weeks, their volunteers pack 1,200
bags of food, provided by area church volunteers,
which will be discreetly delivered to Hueytown
But food is not all they provide: Parsons and
her team of church and community helpers and
business donors often meet other needs, like
distributing school supplies, coats, underwear
and hygiene items. And they engage with
elderly community members who enjoy writing
inspirational notes for each child.
Take action: The best way to help is to come pack
food with the volunteers. With about 100 people on
board, it takes about 30 minutes to pack food, and
kids are encouraged to help, too. They also need
food (see the website for a list of items they accept)
and monetary donations for purchasing food.
hueytowncommunityhelpers.com
VINEYARD FAMILY SERVICES
When Ward Williams founded Vineyard
Family Services, he had a feeling that there were
a great number of people in his community with
needs who might never walk into the doors of a
church. With Vineyard Family Services, he and
his staff are able to reach people where they are.
responsible fatherhood, stable coparenting and
help families in crisis, also began a Backpack
Buddies program in 2009. What started with
two schools with 40 kids now serves 1,000 kids
a week. Thirteen of the 34 schools are paired
with church donors to meet the needs of food
insecure kids in Shelby County, where there are
10,000 children on free or reduced lunch.
Backpack Buddies ensures that each weekend
bag packed is delivered to the 34 participating
Shelby County middle and elementary schools.
They also make certain the bags contain at least
2,200 calories of kid-friendly food that is shelf
academic achievement (98% of the kids in
Backpack Buddies continue to advance to the next
grade in school), the real impact is the conversation
that gets started. “Being in the program allows
a child to have a one-on-one relationship with
a counselor, which we have found to be a big
teachers understand more about a child’s home
circumstances, it’s easier to spot potential issues
and provide other means of support.
Take action: Come to a packing party or
arrange an opportunity for Vineyard Family
Services to speak to your church group about
supporting the mission. Monetary and food
donations also accepted. For guidelines on food
items, see the website.
vfsdads.com
Pelham is one of several communities that
participate in Neighborhood Bridges.
/neighborhoodbridges.org
/hueytowncommunityhelpers.com
/vfsdads.com