For over thirty years, the first week in October in Atlanta, has been synonymous with perfect weather (well, maybe not this year), college football, and the city’s largest day/week of service! The 2021 edition of Hands On Atlanta Week, presented by The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, carried our city’s tradition, where thousands of volunteers stepped up and helped tackle our city’s most pressing needs!

Quick Stats, Big Impact

Featured Projects + Events

During Hands On Atlanta Week, over 300 volunteer projects and community events took place! While we can’t highlight all of them, the following in-person and virtual projects and events give you an inside look at the good work that happened.

Virtual

Learning in Color STEAM Mural

Volunteers from LexisNexis Risk Solutions painted a large STEAM mural for M. Agnes Jones Elementary School. The twist? The mural was broken into 100 individual canvases and half of the canvases were painted by volunteers in Atlanta and the other half were painted by a remote team in Florida. The project was organized by Learning in Color. Each volunteer was given their own paint kit with instructions, sketched guidelines, paint, and supplies.

Letters of Encouragement for APS Teachers

Volunteers from Norfolk Southern joined Hands On Atlanta for a Zoom call to learn about the challenges teachers are facing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Together they wrote over 200 cards/letters of encouragement to teachers at Hands On Atlanta partner schools and packed incentive snack bags for students.

Hands On Atlanta Disco Program

Chick-fil-A sponsored 3 Disco sessions (our virtual Saturday, STEM enrichment program) engaging 100 students across 5 of our partner schools. 27 volunteers put in over 50 hours in total, including several Hands On Atlanta Civic Fellows of our recently launched Civic Leadership Program!

In-Person Projects

Fun on the Farm at Truly Living Well

Hands On Atlanta Week presenting sponsor, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation showed up and showed out at Truly Living Well! Volunteers from various Blank organizations (Falcons, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta United, etc.) came together to remove invasive plants from a hillside, spread mulch, and cultivated new usable land for the farm. 12 volunteers from Chick-fil-A rolled up their sleeves and cleared garden beds to prepare for the fall crops. It was a fun, fantastic day on the farm!

International Community School Meal Distribution

Volunteers from ShopCore, an affiliate of the Blackstone Group, packed 440 meal kits for the International Community School (ICS) and 260 meal kits for McLendon Elementary School. The meals were distributed by Hands On Atlanta volunteers and school staff. You can learn more about this distribution here.

Meals 4 Kids Pack - Love T. Nolan

Volunteers from RYAN Companies, Coca-Cola, and Atlanta Select Properties joined a Hands On Atlanta Meals4Kids meal pack and distribution for students at Love T. Nolan Elementary School! Together they packed 700 meals and wrote 900 notes of encouragement!

Barack and Michelle Obama Academy Service Saturday

30 volunteers from Kilpatrick Townsend polished up the school's campus with various concurrent painting and landscaping projects, including 6 of these cool garden beds! They also painted 2 interior walls, 2 trails of footprints on the sidewalk and 2 sidewalk games, assembled 10 pieces of furniture and staged the new Parent Resource Suite.

A Bright Day at Hollis Innovation Academy

Just in time for Fall break, volunteers from NCR’s Black Professionals Forum hosted a Service Saturday! The day focused on polishing up the Hollis Innovation Academy campus by installing 30 inspiring affirmation decals on the outside of restroom stall doors, weeded and layered 5 planter beds, cleaned 4 huge flower pots, planted roses and removed a bunch of rotted wood.

Atlanta ToolBank

The Atlanta ToolBank powered Atlanta's biggest week of service and they received a little love from volunteers too! Teammates from Chick-fil-A helped with tool order logistics for all Hands On Atlanta Week projects and sanded and painted 6 hand sanitizer stands, washed and painted 25 shovels, pressure washed 50+ wheelbarrows, and cleaned and organized the warehouse.

The Kick-Off Party

Oh and let’s not forget about our Kick-Off Party we hosted last Thursday in our parking lot! Sponsors, volunteer leaders and friends of the family stopped by to enjoy good company, good food (donated by Chick-fil-A) and good times (donated Wild Heaven) at our office.

Thank You + High Fives to ALL of our Sponsors!

Hands On Atlanta Week doesn’t happen without the incredible support from our sponsors. Together they powered 300+ projects, supported thousands of families, hundreds of students and helped make a more equitable and civically engaged Atlanta!

Inspired to get to work?

Hands On Atlanta Week is a snapshot of the work volunteers do every day! If you want to get involved and serve our community, explore our opportunity calendar and do something good!