ALPENA — If 12 friends each put $100 in, they could buy a truckload of food to feed 400 people for a week. So why not do it?

That’s what Andy Lappan thought when he found out that sponsoring a truck full of about 25 pallets of food only costs $1,200. He and the newly formed Feed the Need committee in Alpena are seeking donors to follow suit in sponsoring a truckload of food each month in Alpena.

Lappan Agency is sponsoring the first truck, which will come to the old East Campus from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday. The food is provided by the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.

Food will be distributed to anyone who needs it. No income checks will be done, Lappan said.

Lappan wanted to get the first food truck here in September, because it is Feeding America’s Hunger Action Month. He is confident that more organizations and businesses will step up to sponsor these events on a monthly basis.

“So, after the chamber dinner last year, Jen Calery and I were talking, and she had talked about how her sister up in the Sault does these pop-up pantries or mobile food trucks, and they partner with the Eastern Michigan Food Bank,” Lappan explained. “And she said you can sponsor a whole semi-truck full of food for $1,200. Twenty to 25 pallets of food, that can feed 400 people for a week, because they get their groceries that day.”

That’s all he needed to hear.

“I thought, man, that’s a no-brainer, because if you really break it down, the social good you can do for $1,200, that’s like $3 to feed a family for a week, almost,” Lappan said. “So, I said that Lappan Agency would do one.”

That conversation started a series of conversations that led to the formation of Alpena’s Feed the Need Committee.

In addition to Lappan, committee members include Melissa Burns, Jennifer Calery, Bradley Somers, Kara Bauer LeMonds, Robin Lalonde, Brooke Peterson, Molly Stepanski, and Catherine Knoch, who is the Youth Volunteer Corps director at the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena.

“We just all said, ‘We could get people to do this. There are other businesses and organizations that would do this for 1200 bucks,'” Lappan stated.

He said a number of businesses have already signed up, but more are needed to reach their goal.

“So the goal is to get one of these to come to Alpena every month,” Lappan said. “If we get all 12, we’re looking at feeding close to 6,000 people.”

“For a small investment, you can make a huge impact on the community,” he added.

Those who are coming to receive food are asked to bring bags or boxes for food. There will be a variety of food items available.

Volunteers are still needed to help at the event. Contact Lappan at 989-255-5434 or find the sign up link on the Alpena Feed the Need Facebook page.

The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan distributes more than 28 million pounds of food annually, through a network of more than 700 Hunger Relief Partners in 22 counties.For more information about the FBEM, out of Flint, visit www.fbem.org.