By Karen Williamson

KARENW@CULLMANTIMES.COM

Cullman’s Food Bank is in desperate need of a larger warehouse.

Many people know that Cullman Caring for Kids runs the food bank, but it also runs nine other programs out of the office.

Cullman Caring for Kids was established in 1988 as a child abuse prevention agency.

“That is still our primary focus,” Javon Daniel, executive director of Cullman Caring for Kids, said. “Prevention is what we are all about.”

The food bank was started a little over seven years ago, Daniel said.

“We had one room. It was sufficient,” he said. “We could keep up with everything without a problem.”

But as client numbers grew so did the amount of food distributed.

“In a normal month, I have about 450 families,” he said. “We distribute four to six tons of food per month on average.”

Cullman Caring for Kids is providing food to families in need this year for Christmas. He anticipates distributing 14 to 16 tons of food.

“That is a lot of groceries,” he said.

To unload groceries, Daniel backs a 24-foot van up to a door with a ramp. Volunteers unload everything by hand.

“What we have always wanted is some kind of space that has a loading dock, is on one floor and some kind of warehouse where we can take in the food on the pallet and leave the food on the pallet until we need to get it ready for distribution,” said Daniel.

Right now, volunteers are having to handle the food five different times, he said.

In a guest column to The Times, Tanya Shearer said of the food bank facility, “there is still no room to warehouse these large pallets of food when they are delivered.”

She said heavy pallets of food must be divided and individually carried down a steep flight of stairs to the basement for storage.

“Later, these same cases of food are carried back upstairs for distribution,” she said.

Daniel lost control of a handtruck with food on it on the steep stairs. He pulled against the truck to try to stop his fall but couldn’t.

Many of the retirees are volunteers, said Shearer.

“Being able to unload the truck and store the food on one level would greatly ease the distribution of the food to the hungry people of our community,” she said.

On Thursday, Daniel bought 14 pallets of food at the USDA grocery in Huntsville. He buys some food locally but shops at the USDA store because he can buy food at 14 cents a pound.

“We’re trying to get enough ahead when we start doing the Christmas Love distribution, so we will have food here and available,” he said.

Daniel unloaded Thursday’s shipment into one of two classrooms used for “kids programs that we teach.”

“The county furnishes these offices because we deal so much with the public,” said Daniel.

The organization does not pay rent nor could it because the budget is so tight, said Daniel.

“We’re so thankful to Cullman County for helping us. They have been really great too,” said Daniel. “It’s great for offices, but it’s not a great space to warehouse food.”

Daniel said he needs a facility with 30,000 square feet. The facility would house the Court Appointed Special Advocate program that is getting underway to train advocates for children in juvenile court who are victims of abuse or neglect, the Kids at Risk in Schools program which is a violation prevention program in county and city middle schools and the Child Abuse Rescue through Education that goes into county and city schools elementary schools, private schools and four day care centers.

“We do a tremendous amount,” said Daniels. “Very, very few people know about all these other programs that we are doing.”