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By: Donnamy Steele

The Full Tummy Project is one of many Alabama nonprofits that were granted money by the governor recently.

The pandemic caused many local nonprofits to lose funding over the last few months, but thanks to the grant issued by the state of Alabama, the Full Tummy Project is able to continue serving Covington County students this year.

The Full Tummy Project is a nonprofit organization with a mission to battle childhood hunger, beginning in Covington County. The organization has been up and running since 2014, according to Katie King.

“We founded the program in 2014 and we have been serving kids in Covington County since then. We have a weekend backpack program for every elementary school, K-6 kids in the county,” King said. “Right now we currently do around 300 a week and what we do is put non-perishable food in bags for kids and donate them through the school system. That will get them through two days, Saturday through Sunday.”

The COVID relief grant is for up to $15,000 for recognized nonprofits in the state, King said.

“We are a recognized nonprofit, which is why we were able to get the grant,” King said. “I applied for the full $15,000 and within about 6 weeks we were approved and they direct-deposited it into our account.”

The grant application was simple compared to other grants that King said she has applied for in the past, which she found to be a relief.

“It was a really simple process, which is delightful and rare. We usually have to jump through some hoops,” King said. “We are privately funded through people in the county and we usually hold two events, our golf tournament and a dance party, so we were short this year and it’s great for groups like us who depend on big fundraisers. Our golf tournament was rescheduled and our Fall fundraiser, Dance and Donate, is a big party and a silent auction, but we had to cancel it for this year.”

Despite COVID disrupting the original plan to host a golf tournament fundraiser in May, the tournament will be held on October 6th. King said the organization is still in need of whole sponsors for the tournament.

“We need whole sponsors, but we will also take donations. Whole sponsors are $100 and they will have a sign for their business or with their name if they are representing an individual. It’s a great way to contribute,” King said.

“We have no overhead or admin costs, so every dollar we raise goes to purchasing food. We have a $60,000 budget to fund the project each year. We have an obligation to raise $60,000 to $70,000 each year, so that’s a huge help and the golf tournament should help as well. In December we’ll be able to look and see where we’re at for this year,” King said. “We’ve been very proud of never having a gap in service because of financial reasons. We were fearful of that this year because of the state of our country, but this has been a blessing and the golf tournament and the grant money will help the schools.”

To King, deciding to donate to a nonprofit whose mission is childhood hunger is a no brainer.

“Childhood hunger is something that I don’t know why we have such a problem with in our very wealthy country, but I wish it wasn’t. You can’t argue politics over feeding kids,” King said. “It’s a wonderful way to use our tax dollars and give to groups like us.”

For more information on the Full Tummy Project, to donate, or to become a whole sponsor for their annual golf tournament, contact Katie King at covingtonfulltummies@gmail.com.