Heart of Alabama Food Bank cuts ribbon on new refrigerated truck
The Heart of Alabama Food Bank cuts the ribbon on its new refrigerated truck, Tuesday, September 30, 2025 – Photo from WAKA Action 8 News
The Montgomery-based Heart of Alabama Food Bank, the largest in the state, has cut the ribbon on a new refrigerated truck to allow it to serve more people.
The truck is 26 feet long, with a price of $220,000.
The Darden Restaurants, Inc., Foundation — the charitable arm of Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse) — and Penske collaborated for Hunger Action Month to help support communities disproportionately impacted by hunger.
Penske will provide maintenance for the truck.
With this addition, the food bank will have five refrigerated trucks.
“We travel all over the state to be able to give food to those who need it, so this is going to allow us to be able to do that in a safe way,” Varina Mead, the chief development officer for the Heart of Alabama Food Bank told Action 8 News.
The Heart of Alabama Food Bank covers 35 counties, which represents more than half of the state. In those counties, there are more than 269,000 people who are considered food insecure.
