Ward said each food item brought in is equivalent to $1.

Inside-Out Ministries, Inc is joining a national campaign against the hunger plight.

Inside-Out has teamed up with The Feinstein Foundation in the Feinstein Stop Hunger Challenge.

The foundation is giving a total of $1 million to participating organizations that take food and monetary donations in order to feed the hungry.

“What we do here is try to help out in the community the best we can and this challenge is just another way for us to achieve that goal,” said Deborah Ward, director of Inside-Out.

The Feinstein Foundation takes the number of agencies involved in the challenge and bases that on the percentage of money and items collected. Then, a comparable percentage of the funds are donated to each agency.

Ward said each food item brought in is equivalent to $1.

“If we receive a thousand food items, we’ll count that as receiving $1,000,” she said. “Very few places in Alabama are participating in this, and we’re very grateful we were able to help out in this way.”

To date, Ward said Inside-Out has received $6,000 and more than 250 non-perishable food items.

When donating to the challenge, Ward said donors need to specify that their items are meant for the Hunger Challenge.

“That money or food will automatically be entered into the challenge and we’ll be another step closer to reaching our goal,” she said. “A lot of people look at Madison and see affluence, but what they don’t know is that there are lots of people out there going hungry every day. We want to help them get back on track.”

Trish Carpenter, volunteer coordinator for Inside-Out said this challenge not only makes people aware of hunger in the area, but it also addresses the problem head-on.

“This is a community effort and we all have to do our part in taking on a project like this,” Carpenter said. “It’s very important that everyone can help out, does help out.”

Inside-Out Ministries is located at 181 Hughes Road, Ste. 2 in Madison. For more information, call (256) 325-5193.