The Cullman Caring for Kids Food Bank began the new year by distributing food to nearly 100 families in its first day of operation in 2023.

“The staff here, they’ve worked hard today,” Executive Director Steven Sutter said Wednesday afternoon.

Sutter said that the day’s turnout was expected since the food bank was closed more days last month than is typical. The first week of any month also tends to be the busiest.

This continues a rising trend for the amount of families that utilize the food bank services over the last year.

“Last January we served a total of 392 families,” Sutter said. “Then our busiest month was November when we served somewhere around 670.”

Sutter said that the staff first began to notice more families visiting the food bank shortly after additional unemployment benefits were ended by the state of Alabama. The loss of those benefits combined with local school systems losing federal dollars to fund their summer meal pickup programs — along with the drastic rise of inflation over the year — has caused more families to turn to local food banks to fill their pantries. “People’s dollars just aren’t going as far as they used to,” Sutter said.

Sutter said that daily and weekly pickups from local grocery stores like Publix, Walmart and Warehouse Discount Groceries, are currently sustaining the food bank’s supply, but that if Wednesday’s numbers continue, those supplies could begin dwindling.

“By 11 o’clock we had seen about 40 families, and as of now we’ve had nearly 90. We are open 20 days each month. Now, we know that we aren’t going to see that many people every day, but when you break it down like that it gets a little scary,” Sutter said.

Items like canned goods are already in-demand at the food bank.

“Things like canned fruit or vegetables are always welcomed. Stuff like Chef Boyardee or mac and cheese. You know something like mac and cheese is filling, it’s good. When I was a kid, that could be an entire meal right there.”

Another item Sutter said that was always welcomed, were ones that children would be able to feed themselves without the help of a parent.

“I always say to think about a kid walking into a kitchen without their parents. What can they grab and eat without having to have use the oven or the microwave if a parent isn’t around. Stuff like Pop-tarts or cereal bars, something they can have that’s not just a candy bar,” Sutter said.