BOWL WEEK EVENT SPOTLIGHT: FOOD BANK SERVICE PROJECTS
Here at the LendingTree Bowl, we are all about giving back to the community of Mobile. One of the ways we do this is by providing service projects for the teams to participate in. The two teams will each get to partner with local food banks, on December 15th. One will be with Feeding the Gulf Coast and the other with Prodisee Pantry.
Feeding the Gulf Coast works through member organizations and special programs to provide nutritious food to meet the challenge of feeding people who are hungry as a result of systemic poverty, personal crisis or disaster. The core values of integrity, stewardship of resources, accountability, service, diversity and inclusion are what guides Feeding the Gulf Coast in their decisions and actions. Feeding the Gulf Coast operates three branches located along the central Gulf Coast with facilities in Gulfport, MS; Theodore, AL; and Milton, FL. Together these facilities in partnership with over 400 agencies to distribute more than 30 million pounds of food annually to the 24-county service area through the food bank’s hunger-relief programs.
For the 2021 game, Eastern Michigan had the opportunity to be paired up with Feeding the Gulf Coast as their community project. The team created assembly lines to put together boxes of food and drinks for senior citizens in the area. Not only did they make it fun for themselves, but worked as a team in a way that just meant more. Jose Ramirez from Eastern Michigan said, “It’s always fun to give back. It doesn’t matter where it’s at – everywhere is home when you’re giving back.”
Prodisee Pantry is a faith-based non-profit community ministry providing emergency food and disaster relief. They have provided assistance to Baldwin County families facing hardship stemming from job loss, medical expenses, natural disasters and other crises. They provide food to single parents, unemployed and under-employed households, families in transition, homeless, retirees and grandparents raising grandchildren is always deemed an emergency. Since 2003, over 185,000 families made up of 450,985 individuals from Baldwin County have received help from Prodisee Pantry.
Liberty’s football team had the pleasure to work with Prodisee for the 2021 game. Just like Eastern Michigan, the Liberty team found their own way to make helping the community fun. They created their own team competition on which pair could fold boxes the fastest, with the fastest time being three seconds.
We are thankful to help provide volunteers for both of these food banks, and are thankful for the football teams for making it exciting.
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