Girls Inc. of Atlanta hosts food drive as demand surges

I'm going to get out to our Christopher Rosenthal, who is at an event that is with a food giveaway for Girls Atlanta. Walk us through this. We know that there's been food insecurity for quite some time. A lot of people just need some assistance. Walk us through the event that you're at. Yeah, absolutely. You know, Feeding America estimates about one seven people in metro Atlanta face food insecurity. And that's part of why having a food drive like this is so important here in Girls Inc. of Atlanta. having this and i'll tell you what the demand is so high people they started at two o'clock people were waiting here uh in line coming through this room it looks pretty much empty right now not too much food left this room was full of food about a half an hour ago um and families came through and um have taken most of it actually so really says a lot to the need here and i have a Tiffany Colley Bailey here. She is CEO of Girls Inc. of Atlanta. And tell me, what does this say when you see this room so quickly, you know, cleared out with the food? It really talks to and speaks of the need that exists in our communities today. So many of our families, we've served over 5,000 families since November through our Families Thrive food pantries. It only happens one day a week for four hours a day. And so this is a first for us, where we are here in South Fulton at Kip Vision. And in 30 minutes, we have served over 400 families, and we are almost wiped out of food. And while I'm happy that we're able to serve, it saddens me that the need is so great. And it just wants to make us to dig deeper and do more for our families and for our community. What sort of items did you have here today for everybody? Today we had amazing produce, breads. We had meat. We had pantry items, but we also had blow-up mattresses. We had diapers in the formula. We had strollers. We had clothing here. We had the gamut here just because nothing goes unused right now. We become the village, and so we just want to make sure that we support. Yeah, and people came from all over, huh? I had a family that came from Conus who was in need of programs and services, but really in need of food today. And so what we always say, while we are a youth development organization, What we understand very clearly, if our youth don't have the basic essentials of food, then how can they learn? How can they be expected to come into this world and go to school and do all of those great things? And so this is about getting back to basics. This is about being the community and being the village. And we have so many partners that help to make this happen. Montlake Angel Wall, Georgia Power is out here with their volunteers today. ABC Care Center, who helped to donate all of the diapers and the mattresses. and then Bimbo Bakeries who helped to donate all the bakery items. We couldn't do this in Hexley Village. Our partners are amazing. And all these things are expensive, and people are feeling the pinch of inflation. I'm sure you're hearing that. You know, there's still some stuff left here, so you were planning to be here until about 6, but how much longer do you think you've got out here? I think we have just about an hour left out here. People are still coming in, and we're going to be here until it's all gone. Yeah, until it's all gone. You've got some more of these coming up. But if people want to take advantage, how can they? We do. So we do this at the Marietta Girls Inc. Center every Thursday from 2 to 6, and that address is 461 Main Street. But then coming up, we'll be back in Atlanta on November 23rd. That's the Monday before Thanksgiving at Kip Ways Academy. And then we'll have a big another celebration. V-103 has been out here today, and they will be back with us December 17th at a Girls Inc. Center in Marietta. So other chances coming up, and really great in the holidays too. So, yeah, you know, these empty tables here, just an indication of the need. Like I said, about half an hour ago, this place was completely full all the way around of food and supplies and goods for people and a line, you know, line out the door, folks. So it really says a lot for the need, but to help people out, but also, you know, there is a need. So back to you. All right, Chris Rosenthal, I know you were there when there were a little bit more people that were there earlier. Walk us through just from your experience, what was that feeling like? I'm sure so many people were just grateful for the outpouring of love and support during this. What did you sense while you were there? Oh, yeah. I mean, people come out. They came out with their families. And, you know, you could tell they were excited to see this. It was a very comprehensive spread, if you will, you know, food, fruit, vegetables. they had diapers uh you heard tiffany's uh talking about diapers are very i was watching some of the families pick those up but they were they were very grateful uh to have those you know and they came with oh they came with carts you know again they had some big families they have to feed um and they you know they were able to be served so um yeah definitely a lot of uh gratitude i sense from these folks here. Right. Chris Rosenthal, thanks so much. It is unfortunate that we have to have events like that. I wish we lived in a world where we didn't have to have these events, but it's good that we do have these events for those people who need it, especially as cost of living just continues to rise and is so high there as well.