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By EMILY SPARACINO | Staff Writer

Double Oak Community Church is holding its annual fall food drive to benefit Alabama Childhood Food Solutions.

The church’s Mt Laurel and Chelsea campuses are accepting food donations through Sunday, Sept. 26.

Bagged donations should be brought to the designated drop-off area in the Commons between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

“The founders of Alabama Childhood Food Solutions, Jim and Linda Jones, are church members, so often a small group in the church will get involved in some way, whether it is donating food or volunteering,” Children’s Minister Sandy Stephenson said. “Anyone can donate food. They can bring it by the church, and we will make sure it gets to ACFS.”

Double Oak’s Children’s Ministry is sponsoring the food drive to give parents an opportunity to teach their children about stewardship and service, Stephenson said.

“We feel it is important for parents to teach their children about sharing what they have with others,” she said. “We encourage parents to take the child shopping to fill a bag with food and bring the bag to the church. We want this to be an opportunity for parents to talk about children in our community who have hunger needs, and God’s directive to Christians to help meet that need.”

Donations can include the following:

• Vienna sausage
• Potted meat
• Small cans of ravioli, Spaghettios, Beefaroni, and beans and franks (pull-tops preferred)
• Austin or Lance snack crackers
• Pop-Tarts or any brand of breakfast tarts
• Peanut butter (10-ounce size and smooth texture)
• Ramen noodles (beef or chicken flavor)
• Instant oatmeal
• Instant grits
• Pork-n-beans (10-ounce size or smaller)
• Toilet paper and feminine products

Stephenson said monetary donations are helpful, too.

ACFS constantly needs volunteers to help with the food pantry distributions and packing backpacks for children who are food insecure.

For more information, visit Alabamachildhoodfood.com/volunteer-now.