The Atlanta Community Food Bank  and Second Helpings Atlanta have formally agreed to establish a collaborative partnership. Second Helpings Atlanta has now become a Food Rescue Partner of the Food Bank, one of the largest hunger-relief organizations in the Southeast.

“We are excited to expand our partnership to reduce food waste in Metro Atlanta and get more food into the hands of our neighbors in need,” said Kyle Waide, President and CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. “Second Helpings Atlanta is growing rapidly, and their 90 Minute Model is efficient and effective as we work to end hunger together in our communities.”

SHA is a nonprofit food rescue organization made up of more than 450 active volunteer drivers. These drivers are matched with routes in the Metro Atlanta area that allow them to drive their personal vehicle to a food donor’s location, pick up surplus, perishable food, and then transport and deliver it to a non-profit organization that serves the needy, before returning home or to their place of work in 90 minutes or less.

The Atlanta Community Food Bank serves Metro Atlanta and North Georgia through more than 600 nonprofit partner agencies in 29 counties to provide nutritious meals and fresh produce to working families, children and seniors in need. In 2017, the Food Bank distributed 69.3 million pounds of food and grocery products, enough for nearly 56.4 million meals.

The Food Bank will refer organizations interested in putting a food rescue program in place to SHA who then develops the logistics to pick up food and food-related products from food donors. Second Helpings Atlanta will deliver the items to Food Bank partner agencies within the Metro Atlanta area.

In 2017, SHA delivered 1,298,422 pounds of food, or 85% of all food rescued by its volunteers that year, to agencies that SHA shares with the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Currently, SHA operates 24 routes per week that were originally referred by the Food Bank.  In 2017, 238,404 pounds of food, or 15.5% of SHA’s total amount of food rescued that year, was picked up from these donors.

Overall, SHA rescued 1,530,976 pounds of food in 2017, a 13% increase over 2016, including 22,035 pounds of food from the Mercedes Benz Stadium and Philips Arena. In total, SHA managed 7,384 pick-ups, with the average food rescue being 207 pounds, enough to provide 173 nutritious meals.

“We are proud to be an official Food Rescue Partner of the Atlanta Community Food Bank,” says Sheri Labovitz, President of SHA. “This is an outstanding opportunity for us to expand our reach, and we encourage all agencies in our existing network to consider becoming a Food Bank partner agency.”

Together, the Food Bank and SHA will continue to work closely to identify new food recovery opportunities and develop plans to pilot, test, refine and implement those programs that represent superior approaches to collectively or individually reduce levels of hunger in the greater Atlanta area.