Food4Lives Atlanta | A Community Service Experience
As I sat at home watching protestors attempt to take over the US Capitol, my sister Desirey invited me to participate in some community service she was taking apart of.
“Something in my heart told me to give back,” said Desirey, so without expectation I grabbed my camera and recorder to see how we could serve the community.
I met her in northwest Atlanta at a small food bank call Food4Lives.
Founded in 2017 by students from Georgia Tech and Emory, Food4Lives is a non-profit service family who strives to feed, educate and empower the homeless of Atlanta.
Annadanam (Feeding the homeless for free)
Vastradanam (Providing the homeless basic physical needs and shelter)
Vidyadanam (Educating the homeless for free).
“The goal is to feed every homeless person in Atlanta,” said Ramana, a coordinator for the organization adding, “everything we do is service.”
“It’s a really honest organization, everyone does it because they actually want to help — not for social media,” said Sophie, a volunteer from El-Salvador who recently discovered the non-profit.
We joined the small group of volunteers on their daily delivery of vegetarian-only food made daily in a certified kitchen.
Our first location was the abandon Bankhead Avenue Bridge on Northside Drive where an enclave of homeless individuals were located.
As we were handing out meals, we met Ali — a New Jersey native who had built his own home on the bridge out of recycled materials.
“I went through all the neighborhood and took old pieces of lumber and pieced it together,” said Ali as he swept the floor of his home.
Ali acknowledged that his struggles with addiction led him to the streets but he still has pride in maintaining the roof over his head.
We were enamored with Ali’s makeshift home and his resilience to persevere his dignity despite his current situation.
“That’s impressive, we all have demons, but [maintaining] certain morals like keeping your house clean, I like that,” said Desirey.
We walked away from the experience grateful to have met Ali, the volunteers and for an opportunity to serve those within our community.
The past few months, we’ve been exposed to tense political debates and big elections. It’s one thing to vote for change, it’s another to go out into your community and actively promote change. We discovered an organization in Food4Lives who — with the help of volunteers — is doing the work to create change in the community each day by feeding, provide and education Atlanta’s homeless.
Discover Food4Lives:
Website: Food4lives.org
Instagram: @food4livesatl