, about the organization and how they contribute to the Atlanta community.
Chelsey Cavender, TOTS-EAT Campaign Chair
CC: Thank you so much for taking the time to share some information about your organization! How did The Atlanta Community Food Bank get its start?
AC: The Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) began operating in 1979 from a small space at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Ga. Bill Bolling, our founder and executive director had more food than he could use and began offering it to other churches in the beginning if they would feed people. That's where the idea was born.
CC: And how many people does ACFB now serve?
AC: The Atlanta Community Food Bank works to serve 80,600 people each week through more than 600 partner agencies in 29 counties. 19% of our clients are age 6 - 17
CC: It sounds like that extra food was very much needed! Have you found that there is a time during the year when the food supply at ACFB is particularly low?
AC: We are lucky in that we have wonderful donors so we are never extremely low but the summer time is certainly when the need for food assistance is greatest for many families. Kids are not in school where they might be accessing the free or reduced lunch and breakfast programs during those months which puts an extra burden on parents already struggling to put food on the table.
CC: How are the donations you receive distributed to members of the community?
AC: We have more than 600 partner agencies, which are other nonprofit organizations with hunger relief programs such as food pantries and on site feeding programs, that distribute food to families and individuals directly.
CC:What kind of an impact have you noticed The Atlanta Community Food Bank has had on the Atlanta area?
AC: The impact we have had is that we know we are reaching more people each year based on the amount of food we are distributing. This past fiscal year we distributed more than 50 million pounds of food through our partner agencies. That was just over a 13% increase compared to the year before.
CC: Do you have any additional programs high school and junior high students can participate in even after TOTS-EAT has ended for the year?
AC: We have lot of activities they can participate in. They can volunteer on site helping to sort and pack food boxes in our Product Rescue Center (PRC), they can form a walk/run team and raise money for our annual Hunger Walk/Run in March and they can participate in our Hunger 101 program. Older students can also apply to be part of our summer Youth Summit as well.
CC:Thank you again, for your time! Any closing thoughts or words of advice for students preparing to head out into their own communities to start their collections?
AC: It might help to visit our website acfb.org and write down some of the Stats and Facts, which they can reference when talking about the issue of hunger in our community.