Photo, l-r: Cullman County Commissioners Garry Marchman and Kerry Watson, Ben South, Melissa Betts and Cullman County Commission Chairman Kenneth Walker
CULLMAN – As everyone prepares for the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, there is another season that Melissa Betts and Ben South believe is the most important. On Sept. 13 of this year the Cullman County Commission signed a proclamation stating that from that day until Dec. 25, 2016, it is Child Hunger Action Season.
The proclamation was South’s and Betts’ idea. They have dubbed their initiative, Christmas Sunday. The mission is to assist food insecure children not only across Cullman County but across the state of Alabama. The plan is to connect with other organizations and food banks in Alabama’s 67 counties to inspire them to create events that will give money to child hunger programs. It could be a program in Cullman County, like the Knapsacks for Kids program started by Betts. The goal for each local event is to fund a local child hunger program.
Betts explained, “What we want to do is make as many contacts as we can in order to get the ball rolling and we know we don’t have long to get this done. We have been in communication with Alabama Food Bank which has eight different locations and encompasses the whole state. Within those eight locations every county has access to a food bank, like our county is under Huntsville North Alabama food bank. We’ve made contact with them; they’re on board. They have someone who is over child hunger initiatives. We are looking to create these events or help people create these events from now to Christmas Sunday.”
Co-owner Bill McCartney at the Red Door Cafe is doing a Christmas dog parade, Cullman’s first Christmas dog walk. Citizens will be able to have their pup’s Christmas picture taken with Santa Claus. This is just one example of an event that will be fundraising to end child hunger.
Southern gentlemen and co-owner of the Red Door Café, South, stated, “We’re trying to look at this real broadly, real creatively. To me it feels like something Alabama can solve. We can’t solve everything; we can’t immediately have great bridges and great roads but we can get rid of child hunger.”
According to Kristina Scott, executive director at Alabama Possible, 4,800 kids in Cullman County are food insecure. Scott has been nominated as one of the top 20 women who are making a change in Alabama. Alabama Possible’s mission statement is “to remove barriers to prosperity in Alabama by advocating, educating and collaborating.”
Alabama Possible is always looking at ways to solve problems like hunger and education. Education is a huge part of Betts’ work with Knapsacks for Kids. Knapsacks for Kids partners with schools to give children who need it, food for the weekend.
According to Alabama Possible’s 2016 Poverty Data Sheet, Alabama is the fourth poorest state in America. Although while leading the state in agriculture production, Cullman County’s food insecurity is at 13 percent and childhood food insecurity is at 25.8 percent.
These are kids you know. Kids that you see every day, every week. It is not only the poor neighborhoods around Cullman County, it is the city of Cullman as well. It is not just one pocket of the county. It is everywhere. Every school has some kids, a family, who need a little extra help with food. It is not what we want to imagine our county or our state to be. But these are the facts. State-wide child hunger is a solvable problem that Alabamians can defeat. Get involved. Give. Any amount of money or time can help.
To help, contact South at sthrnnss@bellsouth.net or Betts at jmbetts98@gmail.com.
For more information about Alabama Possible, visit https://www.facebook.com/AL.Possible.
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