More Tennessee Valley residents should have access to food assistance, thanks to two recent food drives that yielded bountiful results, organizers said this week.

Tim Levan, an Athens postal carrier who helped organize the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive at the local level, said 42,000 pounds of food was collected for Women Empowering Women, an Athens-based nonprofit organization. That amount is a significant increase from the 30,000 pounds collected last year.

“The people of the Limestone community are usually some of the most charitable in North Alabama,” he said, adding the Athens drive netted more food than post offices in Madison and Huntsville.

Because free grocery bags were offered to customers this year, he said, more people may have decided to participate. The bags weren’t offered last year, and there’s no guarantee they’ll be available next year.

The local food drive is part of a nationwide effort sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers and the USPS, along with other national and local sponsors.

“I hope we can get some local sponsors, so we’ll be able to get the bags on our own,” he said. “The other big thing is just getting the word out so people know about it.”

Levan said the food items were delivered to Women Empowering Women earlier this week. The organization operates a food pantry and also helps provide meals to the less fortunate during the holidays.

“The important thing is the food is staying in the Athens community,” he said.

Bank Independent

Another recent food drive that performed well was Bank Independent’s sixth annual Food Share Drive, which yielded $562 in cash donations and 9,850 nonperishable food items. The amount more than doubled last year’s amount, organizers said.

All Bank Independent locations served as drop-off points. On April 26, collection points were set up at several regional locations, including Athens and Madison Walmart stores.

Donation recipients include Church Cooperation in Morgan County, Neighborhood Christian Center in Decatur, the Departments of Human Resources of Lawrence County and Franklin County, Limestone County Churches Involved Inc., Sidney’s Safe! Foundation in the Shoals and Manna House in Huntsville.

The share drives are part of Bank Independent’s Helping Hands program, which also includes employee volunteer efforts, donations and sponsorships. Other share drives include Shelter Share to benefit animal shelters, Toy Share to collect toys for the holidays and the upcoming School Share drive for school supplies.

Helping Hands was inspired by employee requests for organized volunteer opportunities after the April 27, 2011, tornadoes. Since then, Bank Independent employees have donated over 6,832 hours in paid volunteer time to community efforts serving over 82 organizations.

“Food Share allows us to focus our efforts and impact families undergoing hardships by meeting their most basic needs,” said Rick Wardlaw, CEO of Bank Independent. “We’re grateful to the excellent local organizations who address these needs daily. We’re honored to partner with them through this drive.”