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Growing Solutions to Summer Hunger

Many people think about summer as a great time for vacations, fun with friends and family, but they don’t think about what it means for many of Georgia’s children who rely on school breakfast and lunch during the school year.  When school lets out these children and their families have to think about how they are going to replace those meals; many times those meals are not replaced and these children go hungry during the summer.

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June Youth Summit Success!

Last week, we hosted 18 high school students from across the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s service area for the summer’s first Youth Summit on Hunger and Poverty. Through interactive and hands-on experiences, the annual four-day summit educates teens about hunger and poverty issues in Georgia and our nation.

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Map the Meal Gap Numbers Released


Hunger is not just present in Georgia, it is now prevalent.  New county by county data released Monday by Feeding America reveals that almost 2 million Georgians are food insecure – meaning that at some point in the year they do not have access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy, productive lifestyle.  That’s 20% of our neighbors, coworkers, congregants, family and friends who regularly face the uncertainty of knowing where their next meal will come from.  

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The Hunger Study Continues

Real need seems a pretty remote and far off concept until the moment you’re confronted by it.  Suddenly your own personal needs and desires take a back seat.  Sometimes – maybe even most of the time – it’s easy to ignore that real need exists.  After all, we can always look the other way and try to distance ourselves from anything that makes us feel uncomfortable.  Since mid-April, I have had the opportunity as a staff member of ACFB to assist in conducting Feeding America’s Hunger in America 2014 Study.

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A Tale of Two 'A Place at the Tables'

I admit that my initial motivation for seeing the documentary A Place at the Table stemmed from competition and curiosity rather than compassion. My third novel, published June 4, is also called A Place at the Table, though it’s a story about metaphorical rather than literal hunger. Still, I worried that this same-named documentary would overshadow my book. But within five minutes of watching the film, I saw that the human stories illuminated in it are far more important than my pre-publication fretting.

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Give Imani a Hand

Ever since she was 8 years old, Imani has volunteered in the Food Bank’s Product Rescue Center. She’s an inspiring example to me of how one person’s consistent giving can have a tremendous impact in the lives of others.  

Imani has grown up with us. Along the way, she's gone on to help in her high school's food drive and introduce new friends to our work. And we've grown too. Imani now sees more volunteers joining her, new types of food needing to be sorted, and more boxes being packed for distribution to families in need.

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Update on the Farm Bill

We are writing with an update on one of the most important pieces of legislation affecting low-income families and food insecure households in Georgia – the Farm Bill.  The Farm Bill guides funding for federal farm and food policies, and this includes the Food Stamp/SNAP program and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), two vital pieces of legislation for food banks and those we serve.  The Farm Bill is reauthorized every five years, and is now making its way through the House and Senate.

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Springfest is Saturday!

The good folks over at Twain’s Billiards and Tap in Decatur continue to impress me year after year. They get it and they live it by taking action; by doing something. It’s that time of year again and SpringFest is here this Saturday, May 18th.  This event, when it started, was considered to be a one-time thing. But now, for the fifth year running, Twain’s will host this “musical extravaganza of historic proportions” to benefit the ACFB. Check out some of your favorite local bands like Gringo Star, Shathouse Rats and Rolling Nowhere, as they rock the two stages.

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