A new collaboration called the West End Food Alliance is aiming to eliminate food insecurity.
The Audubon Area, Dugan Best, and Northwest Neighborhood Alliances, along with the City of Owensboro, are partnering with New Life Church for the initiative. Distribution will be limited to families living on the west end.
Audubon Alliance Chairperson Bryant Bell shared his concerns about the lack of food options available to residents in the west end of Owensboro with other west side neighborhood alliance chairpersons, New Life Church Pastor Todd Camp, Owensboro Health, and Tri-State Food Bank.
Following that conversation, the groups formed the West End Food Alliance, which offers pre-packed food boxes, fresh produce, and other items specifically to the residents on the west side of Owensboro. The alliance hosted their second mobile food distribution last week and has previously hosted pop-up produce giveaways offering fresh, seasonal produce.
“Thursday, we gave out 110 boxes of food,” Camp said. “Food insecurity is real for families as proven by the fact that we ran out of supplies after an hour of serving.”
Camp said that food ministry has been the church’s mission for 20 years, and joining this alliance will be perfect for the church and the surrounding neighborhood.
“We feel like we’re in the perfect location (at 400 Crabtree Avenue),” he said. “We’re right off a busy road there, Estes and Cravens are really close, Northwest and Dugan Best neighborhood alliances are right there. The church is right in the middle of everybody, so it’s really a perfect spot.”
Bell also said the location was ideal.
“Our mission was to offer fresh produce options to the surrounding senior apartment residents and Housing Authority complexes, along with the many churches and anyone in the west end neighborhood area that needs access to fresh produce and food,” Bell said. “The neighbors love the opportunity, and we hope to continue to grow the West End Food Alliance mission and further our support from the community.”
The next pop-up giveaway or distribution has not been selected yet. Camp said people can follow the City of Owensboro and the Neighborhood Alliance’s Facebook pages to stay updated.
