Brewton, AL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/10/2014 -- When the average person imagines someone who might be hungry, it’s safe to say that a college student wouldn’t be the first person they would picture. However as the volunteers at Carlisa Inc. know, college students are the forgotten victims of a countrywide hunger epidemic.

A food bank and hot meals program, Carlisa Inc. is run by founder and Hunger Activist Lisa Thomas McMillan. McMillan was the first to notice the issue of hunger on campuses, during a chance encounter with a pair of students sharing a packet of cookies. When McMillan asked them if they were hungry, the students said a resounding yes and an idea bloomed into a movement.

“It just broke my heart,” says McMillan, who will be releasing her first book about her life as an activist this year. “We began to provide a free hot lunch for students at our local community college four days a week. The response was tremendous.”

Carlisa Inc.’s mission statement is “we feed the need”, and so they do. While running a restaurant where anyone can come in and receive a free meal, the organization also pro-actively searches for people who need help instead of simply waiting for the needy to come to them.

Other than college students, the organization’s main objective is to aid elderly people with day-to-day activities.

“A lot of seniors suffer from food shortages,” says McMillan. “We are there to fill the void for them. We help them to obtain food – especially hot meals, and we also help with utility bills and other things they might need. It’s part of our commitment to using the funds we receive to help people in real, definable ways.”

Continuing: “Carlisa Inc.’s goal is to change lives. People are beginning to understand how big the problem is but there is still so far to go. Just because we are talking about it more than we did two years ago doesn't mean that the problem is solved... this is just the beginning.”

For more details about Carlisa Inc., Lisa Thomas McMillan and her upcoming book, ‘Please Believe People Are Hungry’ please visit the official Facebook page.

About Carlisa Inc.
Hunger Activist Lisa Thomas lives in Brewton, AL with her husband Freddie. She has been involved in the hunger movement for almost twenty years. A Baby Boomer born to poor laborers Lisa knows what hard times feel like. She owns and operates a restaurant in Brewton, AL (Drexel & Honeybee’s). Lisa also operates a food bank Carlisa, Inc. since 2002.