Atlanta Community Food Bank Unveils New 345,000 Square Foot Facility

The devastation caused from the pandemic has resulted successful nutrient insecurity rates expanding 31% among the wide colonisation and astir 48% among children.

The Atlanta Community Food Bank has worked tirelessly to alteration those rates with the assistance of their caller 345,000 quadrate ft facility, making it the largest nonprofit nutrient slope successful the world. 

During the opening stages of Covid-19, archetypal inquiries for nutrient assistance jumped 300%. Nearly fractional of each radical requesting the Atlanta Food Bank’s assistance were doing truthful for the archetypal time.

“We cognize that the pandemic truly accrued nutrient insecurity crossed the board, peculiarly among definite groups including families with kids. We’ve seen those rates amended implicit the past respective months,” Kyle Waide, Atlanta Food Bank CEO said. 

The Atlanta Food Bank has been a captious subordinate successful the pandemic response, distributing 116 cardinal pounds of nutrient implicit the past year, and their caller installation is simply a immense crushed why.

“At the highest of the pandemic we were distributing 65% much meals than we were earlier the pandemic. Now, we’re inactive distributing astir one-third much nutrient than before,” Waide said. “We could not enactment that level of organisation without this caller facility. It allows america to determination much nutrient to much families, including decently handling and distributing perishable items similar eggs and produce.”

Furthermore, the Atlanta Food Bank has been operating for the past 18 months portion managing to support employees and partners arsenic harmless arsenic imaginable from Covid-19. 

“We were fortunate due to the fact that we had conscionable moved and we were already engaged with updating our protocols,” Waide said. “The adjustments we needed to marque were already successful question arsenic a portion of that transition. We had to modulation into much mobile distributions and thrust distributions truthful radical could entree nutrient without getting retired of their cars.”

The readying process for the caller Food Bank office and organisation halfway started successful 2017 erstwhile they began figuring retired however large the installation needed to beryllium and what capabilities it was going to need. After that, a superior run began that raised much than 50 cardinal to assistance enactment the building.

Once backing was secured, the determination was adjacent and the caller Atlanta Food Bank broke crushed successful October of 2018.

Some of the notated differences for the Atlanta Community Food Bank happens to beryllium their accrued freezer abstraction and much retention areas. Waide said they went from six dock doors successful their aged determination to 36.

Although the Atlanta Community Food Bank isn’t yet operating astatine afloat capacity, members of the assemblage tin inactive get progressive successful immoderate way.

“Historically, we person a precise robust unpaid programme astatine the Food Bank. We had much than 30,000 nutrient volunteers earlier the pandemic,” Waide said. “We are inactive operating astatine a constricted capableness but we person a tremendous enactment strategy of 600 assemblage based partners we proviso with food. All of those partners are successful places wherever volunteers tin get engaged. We beryllium connected enactment from the assemblage to money our work.” 

With the holidays close astir the corner, the Atlanta Community Food Bank is gearing up for 1 of their busiest seasons of the year. 

“We’re inactive operating with a batch of precocious procedures to support the wellness and information of our employees, partners and the neighbors we serve,” Waide said. “We are consistently monitoring guidance from CDC and OSHA connected however we tin heighten our procedures. We expect to beryllium distributing nutrient astatine afloat capableness passim the vacation play and expect a surge successful request and are prepared to conscionable it.”