ATLANTA — Landmarks across Atlanta will light up orange Friday, joining forces with the Atlanta Community Food Bank to raise awareness about food insecurity.
It's a need that has hit home for many throughout the pandemic, with the food bank reporting one in eight people in the North Georgia area are food insecure.
A year and a half into the pandemic, such need is not going away, as 11Alive's Liza Lucas learned while visiting the Community Food Center in Stone Mountain.
That's where Jan de la Concepcion directs staff and volunteers for the day's food distribution. She's spent hundreds of hours first volunteering, then working with Atlanta Community Food Bank, seeing firsthand the struggles of local families to make ends meet.
"This specific location has helped fill part of the gap in the Gwinnett County and DeKalb County area," de la Concepcion explained. "One woman, in particular, shared a story. She is a senior living on a fixed income, and she said several times that because of her financial situation, without the community food center, she would not have enough to eat."
The center is just one of the ways Atlanta Community Food Bank has rallied efforts during the pandemic, supporting the community in a time of unprecedented need.
"In the early days, I think there were a lot of people who experienced the need for food assistance for the first time in their lives," ACFB CEO and President Kyle Waide explained. "They had the rug pulled out from under them as their jobs were lost overnight."
"Today, a lot of those folks have gotten back on their feet," he added. "But there are a lot of families who are already kind of facing crisis and insecurity in terms of food and finances before the pandemic. Those families continue to be vulnerable today. In a sense, they're further behind than they were when all this started."
As a result, Waide says the Atlanta Community Food Bank continues to see an elevated need for services. While he noted support like the Child Tax Credit had helped families, the food bank continues to distribute about 35% more food every week than they did pre-pandemic.
Waide anticipates that will be the case indefinitely.
The encouraging news is that Waide believes the organization is stronger than it's ever been. However, he emphasized that there's still a need for the Atlanta Community Food Bank to grow to help people get the food they need, not only for today but also for building stability.
"We know that we provide blessings to people," de la Concepcion said. and we also help them, so it's one less thing for them to worry about."