As the temperatures drop, costs, such as heating bills start to rise, and not everyone in the community are able to keep up.
For some local families, groceries end up taking a back seat to other necessities during the holiday season.
The community has many places to help those in need, but they are always looking for more volunteers.
Lakeview Baptist Church, the Food Bank of East Alabama and Auburn United Methodist Church are some of the places accepting food donations, especially around Thanksgiving.
"It is something that is necessary, unfortunately, in our community," said Pamela Baginski, volunteer food pantry director at Lakeview Baptist Church. "We have a lot of need here, and this is one way to actually meet the need and also to show people that have not ever been to a church that it's what we stand for."
Lakeview Baptist Church food pantry is open Monday mornings from 9-11 a.m.
Families of four or fewer recieve one box, and families of five or more recieve a bigger box.
They fill the boxes with groceries from the Food Bank of East Alabama, different grocery stores and donations from church members and the public.
"Our job is to gather together the best supply of donated food that we can, and then we make that available to churches and nonprofit organizations that have some kind of outreach to the community in need," said Martha Henk, executive director of the Food Bank of East Alabama. "Winter is an issue for people that are living very close to the bones. A lot of times, winter puts a particular strain on budgets."
Henk said the best way for people to volunteer is to call the Food Bank, or go online to find information on how to help.
Henk said a lot of the agencies they work with are working hard to gather Thanksgiving food before the holiday.
"One year we were able to provide the turkey and the fixings and she said, 'Oh, now I can invite my family home for a meal," Henk said about a woman they were able to help one year. "'Now I'll have something to feed them.' I can certainly understand those of us that are looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving and Christmas meal. We really understand that there are others in the community that also would like to have that same blessing."
The AUMC food pantry relies mostly on donations for their pantry, but they get some of their food from the Food Bank of East Alabama as well.
Volunteers prepare their boxes Thursdays and serve Fridays. Some of the boxes have staple foods, such as peanut butter, while other boxes have cold products, such as milk.
"They are allowed the opportunity when we call their names to go through the line of the other goods and pick some of their personal preferences," said Dianne Hill, volunteer with the AUMC food pantry.
For Thanksgiving, guests pre-register and are able to go through a drive-thru where the boxes are given to them, according to Hill.
For more information on how to volunteer at any of these places, go to foodbankofeastalabama.com/donate/volunteer, aumc.net/Ministries/CommunityOutreach/AUMCFoodPantry or lakeviewbaptist.org.
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