A friendly Iron Bowl rivalry has once again turned into a major win for Alabama families in need.

According to the University of Alabama News Center, this year’s Beat Auburn Beat Hunger food drive raised a record 630,624 pounds of food, providing meals for West Alabamians facing food insecurity.

The results were announced Friday morning during a celebration at the West Alabama Food Bank, where organizers and community members gathered to recognize the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and local residents who rallied behind the cause over the past seven weeks.

Beat Auburn Beat Hunger, launched in 1994 by UA’s Center for Service and Leadership and the West Alabama Food Bank, turns the weeks leading up to the Iron Bowl into a friendly but focused competition with Auburn University and the Food Bank of East Alabama.

Each campus works to collect the most food and monetary donations to support its local food bank, and together the two schools have raised more than 8 million pounds of food since the rivalry began.

This year, that spirit of generosity was on full display.

Combined, the two universities brought in more than 1.2 million pounds of food, with Auburn’s Beat Bama Food Drive contributing 648,305 pounds during the friendly competition that ran from Oct. 3 to Nov. 20.

“We worked so hard this year and added so many new things and it really paid off,” said CC Hahn, president of Beat Auburn Beat Hunger.

Every can and every dollar collected by UA’s Beat Auburn Beat Hunger benefits the West Alabama Food Bank, which serves Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Sumter, and Tuscaloosa counties. In that region, food insecurity ranges from 15% to 31%, significantly higher than the national average of 12.7%, and the need remains high year-round.

Statewide, the challenge is sobering: one in six Alabamians — including one in five children — struggles with food insecurity, according to Feeding America data cited in the article.

While Alabama’s 27-20 Iron Bowl victory over Auburn grabbed the sports headlines, many on both sides of the rivalry are celebrating a different kind of win. Thanks to the dedication of students, volunteers, and supporters at both universities, food banks in West Alabama and East Alabama now have hundreds of thousands of additional pounds of food to share with families who need it most.

In a season built around gratitude, the Beat Auburn Beat Hunger and Beat Bama Food Drive campaigns show how a hard-fought football rivalry can help feed neighbors, strengthen communities, and remind Alabamians that the most important victories are often measured in meals, not points on the board.

Sherri Blevins is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You may contact her at [email protected].