By Alaina Denean Deshazo | The Selma Times-Journal

It’s almost time to stock the shelves for the Christian Outreach Alliance.

The third annual Stock the Shelves will be held at the Christian Outreach Alliance, 700 J.L. Chestnut Blvd., from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., a week from today, Friday, Oct. 28.

The event is the organization’s only fundraiser, and helps feed those less fortunate in Selma and Dallas County.

“They won’t even have to get out of the car if they don’t want to,” said Nancy Bennett, COA board member and an organizer of the event. “We’ll have somebody there to take the canned goods or money or both — whatever they want to bring us.”

Bennett said the Outreach Alliance feeds between 200 to 250 families a week on average, and each of those clients get an 8.5-pound bag of food.

“We give out an awful lot of food every week. And we are the only organization that I am aware of that is there every week with the exception of Thanksgiving,” Bennett said. “We’ve been doing this since December of 1995, and I think that speaks well of us because we’ve been here for 21 years now.”

Bennett said the fundraiser, and everything at the Alliance, is by volunteers, so everything donated will go directly back into the community.

“What we are able to do, we’re able to do because the people of our community and our county genuinely care and want to help and share, and we are blessed with that,” Bennett said. “We’ve been very blessed in schools holding canned food drives and churches and just different individuals.”

Bennett said through the help of other people in the community, the Alliance is able to provide for so many people.

“They help us help our community,” Bennett said. “Without donors, we can’t make it. And we are providing a service [to the community].”

Bennett said they are hoping that a lot of people will come out and donate cans and money during the day.

“We’re hoping that a lot of people will come out and bring either canned goods or a monetary donation,” Bennett said. “You can bring one can … anything is better than nothing.”