MADISON, Ala. — Valentines Day may be over, but love is still in the air. As one nonprofit called One Generation Away opened their mobile food pantry to the Madison community assisting anyone in need, free of charge. Also, no questions asked.
One Generation Away operates a drive-thru mobile pantry in various parking lots throughout North Alabama, Middle Tennessee, and the Florida Panhandle nearly every Saturday. On this day, the mobile food pantry was set up at Discovery Middle School, giving back to the Madison community.
According to OneGenAway's Alabama Regional Manager Lindsey Lee in Madison County alone, there are a lot of people who live in poverty. "We have about 36,000 pounds of food that we're giving out to the community. We have about 270 cars here right now. In a full entire grocery cart last about two weeks for a family of four. Fruits and vegetables and produce in the canned goods seem to be what everybody is needing the most around here."
River Valley Church and Lead Pastor Daniel Dean were one of today's event sponsors serving the Huntsville, Madison community for about four years now. "A lot of the members here from river valley church. We got people here from Building church, people here from Asbury, all coming together as one to serve our area. And that's what it's about. People coming together and loving everybody."
Most importantly, Dean believes their mission is to make sure no one in the community feels or walks alone. "We don't want people to think there's no hope. We want people to know that there's somebody here for them, whether no matter the church, no matter the denomination, no matter the organization. We just want people to know that people are here for them in their corner, and we want to see them make it through whatever battle, whatever storm that they're facing."
This event was also the first giveaway under Lee's supervision that food items weren't the only thing distributed. But blankets and socks were also provided. "We just want to bless people. and like I said, no judgment anywhere," she said.