A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Summer Meals

7:00 am: Large coolers and boxes of food are loaded from the food bank warehouse into vans and trucks. Each driver loads his or her truck and checks that they have everything they need for their day of deliveries. One driver, Rose, said she loves delivering the meals to children across the city of Mobile because she knows how important her job is. During the school year, she drives a school bus, and she explained that even the high school students on her bus are anxious to get to school on time so they don’t miss breakfast in the morning.

8:00 am: The drivers depart, delivering meals to each site, where they are stored until lunchtime. At the same time, more than a dozen high school students start their jobs. In the Food Bank kitchen, this group of sous chefs efficiently prepares lunches for the next day. Wraps, sandwiches, salads, and snacks are all carefully packaged. Every day this team makes thousands of meals. In doing so, they make the summer meals program possible.

Noon: Across Alabama, thousands of children enjoy healthy meals from the Bay Area Food Bank. The Light of the Village and the Church of West Wilmer summer camps, and many others, can provide food to their kids thanks to the food bank’s work. We watched children dive into their lunches with delight and gratitude.

We now have a greater appreciation for all it takes to accomplish this—systems, money, people, drivers, coordination, time, and expertise. The Bay Area Food Bank brings all these elements together every day, giving thousands of children in Alabama the gift of a hunger-free summer.