Feeding Families of Alabama was a recent recipient of a $5,000 grant from Spectrum through the company’s national community philanthropic program, Spectrum Employee Community Grants, part of a $1 million programming commitment. 

The donation helped Feeding Families of Alabama obtain much-needed provisions for the food pantry, including hot meals, pantry staples, school supplies and other household items.  

Feeding Families received the grant money from Spectrum in December, noted executive director E’dee Grunn, helping the organization feed and clothe the influx of people who needed help around the holidays.  

“Our numbers double – triple, sometimes – in December,” she said. “This money stocked the food pantry, but the biggest and most important thing it did was allowed us to help the three homeless camps in our area. This grant put us over the top where we could actually start putting some of those people into housing.” 

For the third year in a row, Spectrum representatives joined organization leaders and volunteers at Mount Tabor Church to present the grant and participate in a food distribution for area families. 

Tammy Thompson nominated Feeding Families for the grant. An employee at Spectrum, Thompson has volunteered with the Hartselle organization for several years.  

Thompson said the work Grunn does for the community she serves is invaluable.  

“She’s a huge blessing to this community and the people who come here,” Thompson said.  

Greg Garner, a fellow volunteer, agreed. “She is the heart and soul of this place,” he said. Garner and his wife, Cookie, have been volunteering at Feeding Families for more than a year.  

“I walk the line of cars and make sure I talk to everyone, and we have people that talk about how we are a blessing to them when they are the real blessing – they are blessing us,” Garner said. “Now it’s where I feel guilty if I don’t come every day.”  

Grunn added Feeding Families helps people from a six-county radius, some of whom wait three to five hours on pantry day. She said she sees every day she can help someone as a blessing.  

“I have less in my life than I ever had, but I am happier than I have ever been,” Grunn said. “The peace and contentment and joy I get when I see that I can make a difference – there’s nothing like that feeling.”