This year the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama is on track to donate 20 million meals throughout Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Etowah, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Walker, and Winston Counties according to CEO Nicole Williams.

While Williams is proud of what the food bank has accomplished, she told the Lede in her Q&A this week that there is still plenty of work to be done.

How does the food bank provide meals to people?

So, the food bank does serve in 12 counties here in Central Alabama. And we serve the community through 230 partner agencies who are out in the community. There are churches, soup kitchens, children’s programs, and things like that that partner with us.

We do have a central location. It’s a 75,000 square foot warehouse located in west Homewood where we source food both from donations and food we purchase. We move about 2 million pounds of food every month in and out of our warehouse. And it goes out through our partners in the community, as I mentioned. And our partners are really important because they know their communities best.