In the six weeks before The University of Alabama and Auburn University compete on the football field, members of each university’s community compete in the canned food aisle. 

Beat Auburn Beat Hunger (BABH) is a student-run food drive competition against Auburn that strives to bring together students, Alabama fans and people in the community to collect food for the West Alabama Food Bank and raise awareness about hunger. Auburn simultaneously hosts the Beat Bama Food Drive in which they do the same for the Food Bank of East Alabama. 

“Our biggest goal with Beat Auburn Beat Hunger is to bring awareness to this issue [of hunger],” said Courtney Charland, BABH executive director and senior operations management major. “A lot of students are not aware that it’s an issue in West Alabama and in the state of Alabama, so we definitely want to bring awareness to that, but we also just want to bring awareness to the work that we’re doing here on campus as students and encourage students to get involved and do what they can to help our initiative.” 

This year, BABH’s biggest goal at its annual kick-off event on Oct. 2 was to make University of Alabama students aware that the annual campaign started. Charland thinks that the kick-off was a success, effectively reached plenty of students (mostly freshmen), let them know what was going on with the campaign and advertised ways that students can support it. 

In terms of fundraising, BABH is putting an emphasis on some different techniques. One thing they are pushing is for people to buy t-shirts that support their efforts. There is an order form for students to buy shirts through its social media, and Greek students can purchase them through JnJ Apparel. They’ve also created a Venmo account at UA_babh so that direct monetary donations can be made quickly, and they started an online giving donor drive page for people to donate directly and share the page on social media. 

As of Oct. 9, the campaign raised about 22,000 pounds of food for the West Alabama Food Bank. The competition ends Nov. 14, and University students can bring cans to various locations on campus to contribute to the campaign. 

“We’re just excited for what’s to come because the results so far have been amazing,” said Madison Green, BABH vice president of marketing and senior communication studies major. 

When Green got involved with Beat Auburn Beat Hunger, she was not aware of the level of hunger that some Alabamians struggle with, so she said she loves having a way to serve the community on campus. 

“I think that BABH is important because a lot of people don’t realize that so many people are hungry in Alabama,” she said. “The West Alabama Food Bank serves nine counties, and all of those nine counties need some form of help because there are families in those counties that are experiencing hunger. And I feel like BABH just kind of opens people’s eyes to that but also allows us to get involved personally and help.”