Second Helpings Atlanta Realizes Healthy Growth in 2018

Second Helpings Atlanta (SHA), the nonprofit organization that rescues healthy, nutritious surplus food and delivers it to agencies that feed the hungry in metro Atlanta, continues to expand its food rescue network and just released its 2018 results.

“We are thankful and proud of what we accomplished last year,” says Joe Labriola, Executive Director of SHA.  “We rescued 1,635,945 pounds of food in 2018, enough for 1,363,287 healthy meals, which represents an increase of 8.5% over 2017. December was our 18^th consecutive month of rescuing more than 125,000 pounds of food, thanks to our community of volunteer drivers and drivers from Partner Agencies and organizations that have adopted some of our routes.”

In the last year, Second Helpings Atlanta recruited 18 new Partner Agencies, including the At Promise Youth Center, Buckhead Christian Ministries, SWEAC, Community Friendship, and Good Samaritan. In addition, 22 new Food Donors, including several prominent metro companies and sports venues joined its food rescue network, such as Delta Air Lines Headquarters, Georgia Power, Comcast, SunTrust Park, Georgia Tech Football Stadium, Turner Broadcasting, and NCR Headquarters. Three full-time SHA staff members were added to support operations and outreach.

In April 2018, SHA formalized an agreement with its most important strategic partner to date, the Atlanta Community Food Bank; currently, 93% of all food rescued is delivered to joint ACFB/SHA Partner Agencies.

“These accomplishments were made possible, in part, because SHA had its most successful fundraising year ever, a 115% increase over 2017. The number of individual donors increased by 89%, many of whom participated in successful Giving Tuesday and year-end campaigns which were aided by the marketing efforts of UGA’s student-led Talking Dog advertising and PR team,” according to Sheri Labovitz, President of Second Helpings Atlanta.

“Also, we received several significant grants, including a $50,000 grant from Cox Family Foundation, a 3-year, $75,000 per year grant from the Glenn Family Foundation, and a Toolbox Grant and General Operating Support Grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.”

SHA rescued its 9 millionth pound of surplus fresh, perishable food on December 6, 2018 since its launch in 2004.

“We’re hitting the ground running in 2019, starting with our partnership with the NFL’s Sustainability Team: SHA is one of just three organizations appointed to rescue food from events leading up to and during the Super Bowl. We are ready and eager to build on last year’s growth, and drive out hunger, one mile at a time.” notes Labriola.

To learn more about becoming a Food Donor or Partner Agency, to donate or join Second Helpings Atlanta’s community of volunteer drivers, visit secondhelpingsatlanta.org.