Blazer Kitchen opens as food resource for students, staff

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Benevolent Fund is expanding how it gives back.

In March, the Benevolent Fund established Blazer Kitchen, an on-campus food bank open to all UAB employees and students.

“If there’s any UAB employee or student who comes by and tells us that they need [food], we will let them access the food that they need,” said Benevolent Fund Project Manager Lisa Higginbotham. 

“We don’t want anybody to go hungry, to turn somebody away, because you just don’t know what someone’s situation is.”

Plans for Blazer Kitchen got started afterrecognizing the Benevolent Fund, which is funded by donations from UAB employees and partners with 130 local nonprofits, was unable to help with some needs of employees in emergency situations, Higginbotham said.

The Benevolent Fund financially will help employees who are overcoming illness or facing another hardship, but was not helping with a key need, Higginbotham said. 

“We’ve noticed that we aren’t always able to help with all their needs, and we feel like if we could help with just the most basic of need — which is food — then we can continue to allow that employee to focus on getting healthier and being able to return to work,” she said.

Research has also shown that about 25 percent of community college students and 20 percent of students at four-year schools are food insecure, according to the College and University Food Bank Alliance.

UAB students who are food insecure are able to access a food pantry through student life, Higginbotham said, but that pantry mainly carries non-perishable food. 

“We were hoping that maybe we could work collaboratively with them and supplement what they have,” Higginbotham said. “We have fresh produce — fruits and vegetables and eggs and meat.”

Blazer Kitchen is funded through the Benevolent Fund and benefits from its partnership with the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, which provides access to low-cost food. It also accepts food and monetary donations for Blazer Kitchen and is open to one-time and regular volunteers, Higginbotham said.  

In its first month and a half of operation, Blazer Kitchen distributed more than 3,000 pounds of food to 47 families, or 102 people. Of those families, 26 were employees of the university, and 21 were students, Higginbotham said. 

In addition to providing food, Higginbotham said they also aim to provide a welcoming environment, separating it from the stigma sometimes associated with food banks.

“We were very intentional when we named this Blazer Kitchen,” she said.

“Some people might think we’re preparing food here and feeding it to people, but Blazer Kitchen sounds a whole lot better than UAB Food Bank. It sounds friendlier; it sounds more inviting.”

They also will partner with the Office of Service Learning, which will connect students completing research or looking for experience in social work. 

“There’s plenty to do, but we’ve got some pretty awesome students who have good skills and need the opportunity to get engaged and get involved and get some experience to put on their resume,” Higginbotham said. 

The Blazer Kitchen already has an intern who intends to research the stigma of food banks and how to reduce that stigma, Higginbotham said, and they hope to bring in dietary science students to help build recipes with available food.

“What I tell people when they come in for emergency employee assistance is, ‘We all help other people when we can, but there are times in our life when we need a little bit of help from other people. It’s perfectly OK to come to Blazer Kitchen to access the food, if that’s what you need to do,’” Higginbotham said.

For more information about Blazer Kitchen, go to uab.edu/benfund/blazer-kitchen.