Meet one of our newest Hands On Hunger pantries - Another Chance of Atlanta! New to Atlanta, Another Chance of Atlanta is trying to help solve homelessness and food insecurity in Southwest Atlanta. Their food pantry serves roughly 1200 individuals + families a month with supplemental food.

Along with feeding the community, they offer housing and financial assistance to the community. They are truly making an impact here in Atlanta, and we’re excited to help them continue the fight against food insecurity.

Read more about Another Chance of Atlanta below!

Tell us about why you applied to the Hands On Hunger Program and what you're goals are for the next two years.

Our food pantry has only been open for a year and we are growing and improving. We understand that we would have to be connected to a much larger network to get the consistency of volunteers to serve our population. Our goal is to capitalize on volunteers and understand volunteer management utilizing data, metrics and the systems as well as reporting. We want to understand all the processes involved during these next 2 years. We are very eager to learn!!

Tell us about your organization - what's your mission, and how does it impact our community?

Our organization's mission is to provide food, a structural living environment & life enhancement skills to those who are homeless/low-income and those individuals seeking to recover from substance abuse, domestic violence and other behavioral problems. This ultimately impacts our community by reducing and improving the lives of our most 'vulnerable' populations.

“The main thing that keeps volunteers coming back is that we are organized and have a system going. Although we are always looking for new innovative ideas to get better and improve. We make sure that the volunteer experience is a good one each time.”

— Michael Cornell

What's the history of your organization? How and why did it get started?

Initially our organization started off with just helping women in need back in 2000. Our executive director has a very unique story and because of her journey and life experience she made it her passion to give back. She was in a place of need at one point in her life and she remembers what resources were there and what wasn't during her time of survival.

How do volunteers support your mission? What impact do they have on your work? What is possible through the support of volunteers that would not be possible otherwise?

Volunteers support our mission by helping us to provide care and assistance to those who are in most need. The impact they have on our work is allowing us to reach and serve a much greater number of vulnerable people. This level of service allows individuals to understand that we are here and we too have compassion and that we just want to help. If we didn't have the support of volunteers we wouldn't be successful in our day to day operations. We are a small agency with a small staff. It would be impossible for us to provide a high level of care, assistance and resources to a great mass of individuals in need.

What community problem is your organization trying to solve? Can you tell us more about the issue?

Our agency is trying to help solve homelessness and food insecurity in Southwest Atlanta. This may be a far reach but primarily in the areas that we serve. Since COVID rents have skyrocketed and folks are having a hard time deciding whether to pay for rent or food because of the inflated prices. This issue is a major issue and we understand this takes a great collaboration of like minded-people, agencies and the government to solve. This is a collective effort.

Can you share some impact stats or comments about the work being done by your organization? For example, how many meals/families/individuals do you serve monthly?

Currently our food pantry operations serve roughly 1200 individuals/families a month with supplemental food. In addition, we provide space for our partner agencies to come out to provide resources to those who visit our pantry.

What kind of programming do you offer the community?

We offer food, housing and financial assistance to the community. Financial assistance by way of rental assistance, security deposit & utility assistance and hotel vouchers.

What types of projects do you offer? Tell us about a few different offerings. Do you have monthly or weekly recurringopportunities? How about your seasonal or annual events?

Our agency offers housing for homeless disabled veterans. From time to time when veterans move on we have to do light renovations to the units; such as: painting, cleaning etc to get the unit ready for the next veteran. We also have another housing program for at-risk homeless men and women and after they move out we have projects for that program to do some light renovation work. We do have seasonal and annual community giveaway events throughout the year. Some events include Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Back 2 School, September Recovery Month Events, Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaways and Toys 4 Tots.

Tell us about what it's like to serve with your organization. How many volunteers do you host every month?

We host about 30 volunteers a month. Most are recurring volunteers who love our organization and the work that we do. The atmosphere is pleasant and professional. We care about our volunteers and it's our priority to ensure that they have a good experience each time they volunteer!

Tell us about how volunteers can jump in and get involved. How can they best support you?

Volunteers can find + sign up for our open projects here!

Volunteers can support us with our Food Pantry and with the light renovation of our Housing Programs for the at-risk and disabled homeless veterans. Volunteers can also best support us by volunteering at our events such as Toys 4 Tots and Back 2 School just to name a couple.

Where can volunteers find your organization on socials?

To learn more about our Hands On Hunger program visit www.handsonatlanta.org/hunger