We have been working on a collaborative project in Winston County, Alabama involving the Winston County Extension Office, Alabama, Haleyville Center of Technology, Haleyville High School and Board of Education, STEM Program, the Winston County Diabetes Support Coalition, and the Haleyville Community Foundation. We all came together to build and provide a walk-in cooler to provide food storage at Main Street Ministries in Double Springs. This food pantry provides food to 800 low income clients each month. By providing this walk-in cooler to store perishable food, the pantry can serve more nutritious fresh food. A key part of this program is training from the Extension Office for the clients of the food pantry on eating a healthier diet.
On average Main Street Ministries is able to give out $2,500.00 in refrigerated food each week to low income residents. If you spread that over an 11 month period that would be $117,500 in refrigerated food. This new eco cold storage room provides Main Street with an additional 84ft2 of storage space. This will increase the amount of refrigerated food given away by $164,500 bringing the total impact to $282,000 worth of perishable food each year.
http://https://youtu.be/rsQOFD-hx_0
Main Street Ministries provides this food pantry service to lower income clientele within the county and surrounding areas. In Winston County 18.7% of the population is below the poverty line which is higher than the national average of 13.4%. Of those individuals below the poverty line in Winston County, Main Street Ministries provides service to 22.7% of them.
Haleyville Center of Technology is a State Finalist in the 10th Annual “Samsung Solve for Tomorrow” contest, a nationwide competition where 6th-12th grade students creatively use STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills to solve a community challenge. From a pool of more than 2,000 entries nationwide, only 300 schools have been selected as a State Finalist.
Thank you to all the supporters of this project: Winston County Extension Office, Alabama | Northwest Alabama RC&D Council | Alabama Power | Winston County Diabetes Support Coalition | David Miller at Mill Creek Lumber | Haleyville FFA Chapter | Main Street Ministries | Representative Tracy Estes | Greg Reed