Fulton Youth Commissioners Kick Off Campaign To Fight Hunger

Fulton County Youth Commissioners next week will kick off their sixth Can-Paign to Fight Hunger to help feed less fortunate adults and children.

The campaign will get underway on Monday, Oct. 6 and in partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank, the initiative has a goal of filling 50 barrels of non-perishable food by Nov. 7.

Each barrel holds enough food to feed an average of 285 families, totaling over 14,250 individuals.

The continuing partnership with Atlanta Community Food Bank focuses on the need to fill overwhelming gaps in food security for adults, seniors and/or families whose heads of households are unemployed, underemployed or living on fixed incomes that do not meet all of their economic needs, the county said in a press release.

The ACFB Hunger in America Study reports:

• Among all food bank clients, 27 percent are children under age 18 and 19 percent are seniors age 60 and older.
• The new report shows that 1 in 7.5 people, or an estimated 755,400 people, in metro Atlanta and north Georgia turn to food pantries and meal service programs to feed themselves and their families each year. This includes more than 164,000 children and more than 64,000 seniors.
• For the Atlanta Community Food Bank service area, the report shows that 80,600 people are served each week by programs supported through ACFB, and that those clients turn to food bank partner programs and pantries for help more than 6.1 million times over the course of the year. This means clients are visiting ACFB network programs an average of eight times a year.

The 2014 Youth Commission Can-Paign is promoting friendly competition among high schools, faith based organizations, businesses and government departments.

Organizations are asked to initiate a competitive campaign to collect as many non-perishable foods as possible within their network. When the campaign ends, the donated cans will be weighed at every collection station to determine the winning organization. The winner of the competition will receive the H.O.P.E., or Helping Other People Everyday, Award that will be formally presented by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners

Interested organizations can register to participate and request a barrel (s) by emailing reginald.crossley@fultoncountyga.gov or calling 404-612-7386.

The Fulton County Youth Commission is a program of the Department of Aging and Youth Services, Office of Children and Youth.

Citizens in need of reasonable accommodations due to a disability including communications in an alternative format should contact the Disability Services Liaison at (404) 613-7944 at least 48 hours in advance. To obtain Georgia Relay Access, citizens should dial 711.

(Photo credit: Patch file)