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Did you eat something healthy today? If so, you’re one of the lucky ones. Having the freedom and good fortune to choose what we eat is something that we don’t often think about but many Americans aren’t afforded that luxury. In fact there are thousands of homebound seniors and chronically ill people of all ages right here in Atlanta that don’t have access to basic nutritious meals.
That is what Atlanta based Open Hand has been addressing for nearly 22 years. Their mission is to help people prevent or better manage chronic disease through Comprehensive Nutrition Care™, which includes home-delivered meals and nutrition education. Their groundbreaking program is orchestrated by a team of staff members, chefs, registered dietitians and of course a dedicated volunteer base.
AtlantaHelps recently met with Rosalind Tucker, Open Hand’s Director of Volunteer Services, to get a “day in the life” view of the organization. Here’s what she shared:
“Open Hand produces nearly 5,000 meals a day. Volunteers are at the heart of our operation and they can be seen packing and delivering meals everyday. They work alongside chefs and cooks who plan & cook exceptional meals as well as registered dieticians that provide nutrition counseling in 1:1 and group settings. The atmosphere is filled with music and camaraderie as volunteers from 8 years of age to 92 years of age share stories and laughter knowing how greatly their efforts will impact people in need.”
In addition to meal packing and delivery other volunteer opportunities include assisting with health & wellness programs at senior centers, data entry, and special events support. Open Hand is also looking for a volunteer marketer to assist with marketing efforts including social media campaigns. For more information on volunteer opportunities call 404-872-2707 or email rtucker@projectopenhand.org.
AtlantaHelps has adopted Open Hand as our June non-profit. Here’s how you can participate:
1.) Volunteer with us as we pack meals at Open Hand on Sunday, June 20 from 9:00 AM – 12:00 Noon. Join us for a tour and fun morning by registering on our Facebook events page.
2.) Follow @AltantaHelps and @OpenHandAtlanta on Twitter and tweet about the cause.
Join AtlantaHelps for the 4th annual 500 Songs for Kids, the biggest music charity event in Georgia. This is a 10-day live music marathon running from April 29th to May 8th, 2010 where 500 different artists will perform a countdown of the 500 greatest era defining songs of all time. The event will be held at Smith’s Olde Bar and the AtlantaHelps team will be attending on Friday April 30th.
This event benefits The Songs for Kids Foundation, which is a non-profit foundation that brings musicians year-round to hospitals and special needs kids camps. Go to http://www.songsforkidsfoundation.org to learn more about this outstanding organization and this incredibly fun event!
Please note that we will post information about ticket costs and musical acts as it becomes available. In the past tickets have cost between $10 – $20 depending on which musical acts are participating on a given evening. In the meantime, please RSVP at the AtlantaHelps facebook event page
Another great event for our female Atlantahelpers this month is the Clothing Swap to benefit Dress for Success. Please check out the flyer for the event and contact Brandy (contact info is in the flyer) if you are able to go and would like to be added to the evite. Sounds like a fun time for a great cause!
Long time, no blog post! As some of you know I had a fairly extreme accident late last fall that I’m still recovering from. Fortunately there was an offer by the very talented Laura Nolte to co-chair this year’s Atlantahelps, allowing it to proceed. I was more that profuse in my excitement to have Laura come on board, but somehow (even after that) she still wants to help! Together we will be putting together an advisory board and working to make Atlantahelps a more effective organization this year – more on this as we proceed. To get us started again we will focus on Kate’s Club this month.
Kate’s Club, located at 1330 West Peachtree Street, N.W. Suite 520 Atlanta, GA 30309, is a non-profit organization that empowers children and teens facing life after the death of a parent or sibling. By creating friendships with kids and young adults that share the experience, Kate’s Club guides children through their grief journey in a comfortable, safe, and uplifting setting. The organization focuses on helping Atlanta area children who have lost a parent before the age of 18. Kate’s Club founder Kate Atwood, who lost her mother at age 12, founded the organization about six years ago and since then it has grown from an initial group of six children to now serving almost 300 kids annually.
Kate’s Club is open to any school-aged child in the Atlanta metro area who’s lost a parent or sibling. Most members are referred via word of mouth or community partnerships; there are no fees. In addition to spending time with other kids in the same situation, club members engage in support group sessions led by professional therapists. More lighthearted events include the club’s monthly outings to Braves games, museums, tree climbing venues and even improv studios.
Atlantahelps will be supporting Kate’s Club by conducting a drive to gather camp supplies for Camp Good Mourning, which will be held August 6-8th this year. The drive will be held at the organization’s colorful new midtown clubhouse on Tuesday, March 23 from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM. We’ll be collecting wish list items, touring the club house and socializing. Wish list items includes board games, musical instruments, arts & crafts supplies and snacks – Click here to see the full wish list (pdf).
The weather whiplash we’ve been experiencing notwithstanding, it is definitely (and finally) springtime in Atlanta! Which, for some of us, means it’s also time for spring cleaning! As mentioned in the last post, our March give will fall on the fourth Thursday again this month (3/26/09), and we will target the Salvation Army‘s Thrift Store in West Midtown:
Salvation Army Family Store
746 Marietta Street Nw
Atlanta, GA 30318
404-523-6214
This month will be a straight donations-focused event where everyone is encouraged to bring their donations by the center. I’ll be there between 6-7:30PM on the 26th, and depending on interest we may head over to Octane afterward. Furthermore, in a somewhat shocking turn of events from normal years where I’ve been known to put off this “spring” cleaning well into another season, I’ve already been through my closets and garage, and have my donations ready. That astonishing fact, along with the fact that I’ve already collected a donation from a coworker who won’t be able to make it that night but who wanted to give this month, means I can happily offer to come and pick up your donation and take it/them to the location for you, and to get you a separate tax receipt for your records. If you have a large item to donate, you can schedule a time for the Salvation Army to come and pick it up from you, and last but not least, if you’d like to donate cash (type in https://secure.salvationarmy.org/ if you’d rather) I’m certain they would be thrilled!
I recently began following the Salvation Army on Twitter (@salvationarmyA for Atlanta and TSARedKettle for USA) and learned that “Demand for services at Salvation Army Atlanta family service centers is up 15.6% since the beginning of the year“, a statement which echos what we’ve heard from the other organizations we’ve targeted. With the down economy taking a heavy toll on these charities, and with more and more people needing their services, now is a really great time to get involved and help out.
So, be sure to take a look the list of items the Salvation Army needs, and how your donations are put to use, then come on out and say hello on the 26th!
UPDATE: I just learned that you can donate an unused balance from any gift card to The Salvation Army (thanks @juliawester!) Learn more at: http://tinyurl.com/ctmmkp (0r type in (http://www.donatemycard.com/index-2.php?cid=6)
We had a fun and informative visit to the Gateway Center, a homeless shelter and “Gateway” to services for the homeless in downtown Atlanta, last Thursday night. We started the evening with a great tour of the four-story facility, which is housed in an old detention center that’s been re-purposed, and learned about how the Gateway Center is making a difference for many people in Atlanta. We also made three hundred eleven (and a half, thanks to a broken piece of bread!) cheese, meat, and meat and cheese sandwiches in what had to be record time. Everyone worked really hard, we had a sandwich building competition in which the cheese side soundly trounced the meat side, and we generally had quite a good time giving back in the Gateway Center kitchen. It was a great learning experience, and we were able to make an immediate impact to a very worthy organization. Thanks again to everyone who came out, it was great to work with you!
Our March give will (hopefully) be focused on the Salvation Army. I have yet to make the connection with the center I want to target, but I hope to do a give where everyone can donate items to the Salvation Army from closets, cupboards, etc., following any spring cleaning that gets done this month! I am targeting the fourth Thursday again, this month that falls on 3/26/09, and I will post additional details immediately after I am able to make a connection at the center.
Finally, if you weren’t able to make it out this month but still want to give to the Gateway Center, their needs are listed here, and the Volunteer Coordinator and Community Director said the most urgent needs are for gently used:
- Towels
- Single (aka twin) style bedsheets
- Men’s plain black pants/slacks
- Men’s black socks
- Men’s plain white or light colored shirts and t-shirts
- Men’s khakis
And new:
- Diapers
- Paper towels
- Toilet paper
- Paper cups
- Hygiene products (all sorts, small or travel size)
- Dental products, toothbrushes, toothpaste (small or travel size), floss
- Marta tokens
Thanks again for helping and I hope to see you later this month at our March give!
In planning for my own dropoff at the ACFB next Thursday, January 29th, I asked what was most needed. It turns out they very helpfully list their Most Needed Food Items on their site. The items are:
* Peanut Butter
* Canned Tuna
* Canned Beans
* Canned Soups, Stews and Pastas
* 100% Fruit Juice
* Canned Fruits and Vegetables
* Macaroni and Cheese Dinners
* Whole Grain, Low Sugar Cereals
Please note that they can only accept unopened, unexpired items. They also cannot accept “homemade” canned jellies, jams or vegetables.
So, join me if you can next Thursday from 6–7pm for the dropoff and for the tour of the facility at 7pm. The facility is located in West Midtown and I’ll be there from 6-8ish pm, at which point I’ll be heading over to Octane if anyone else wants to join me!
And again, for anyone who may want to give but who can’t make it out that night, they have a virtual give / donations link on the site (it’s also linked directly from the ACFB homepage for anyone who might be hesitant to click on the link and then input payment info).
Thanks for following and for anything you can do to help get the word out!
First off… Wow are the Twitter and the social networking communities in Atlanta alive and well! The response has been very positive and I really appreciate the thoughts, suggestions, and feedback you’ve offered, as well as how many of you have offered to help if needed. It’s really great to be part of such a fantastic community, virtual and real! If this is your first visit, please check out the background of the Atlantahelps idea here, and welcome!
This month I’m focused on the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) which is, as so many are, suffering with the current economic crisis. From the ACFB web site:
“Demand is up more than 10% and rising. Our neighbors are losing their jobs, their homes, and now are choosing between buying gas, medicine or food for themselves and their families. The Atlanta Community Food Bank will distributes more 2 million pounds of food this month to those in need, but we need your help today.”
As a first step I reached out to the ACFB via phone last week and they are happy to have us trying to help. The facility is in West Midtown, so I thought it would be best to do the dropoff give on a week night since a lot of people are already downtown for work. With that in mind, I’ve proposed the evening of Thursday January 29th from 6–8pm with a possible tour of the facility (which sounds impressive!) at 7pm. That evening hasn’t been confirmed yet, but I’m hopeful I will hear something definite from them this week. It has also been suggested that maybe we meet for a drink afterwards somewhere close (maybe Octane!), if there is interest in doing so.
And, for anyone who may want to give but who can’t make it out that night, I noticed that they have a virtual give / donations link on the site (it’s also linked directly from the ACFB homepage for anyone who might be hesitant to click on the link and then input payment info). If anyone is interested in giving this way, I found the following info:
“93 cents of every dollar donated goes directly back to the community. The Atlanta Community Food Bank is a nonprofit 501c(3) organization (EIN/tax ID number: 58-1376648). Your donations are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law. The Atlanta Community Food Bank does not conduct telephone appeals and does not authorize others to do so on our behalf. Please protect your privacy and do not give to any solicitors over the phone. The Atlanta Community Food Bank does not share or rent our donor list.”
Finally, since this is the first month of Atlantahelps I’m obviously not sure if we will have a big or small response so I made the ACFB aware of that. The goal here is to continue to keep this very low pressure, and it may well be that it’s just me giving a little back, but I’m really beginning to hope it might be more.
Finally, I have been in touch with the women (Maigh and Tessa) who run the monthly Atlanta Twitter group meetup and Maigh had the outstanding and big-hearted idea that we allow people to give at the actual meetup as well as the end of month, starting with the February tweetup. Look for more on that in the coming month!
I will update the blog as soon as the date / time for the tour of the facility is confirmed, and thanks again to everyone who is thinking of participating!!
Welcome! If you found your way here you’re probably already well on your way to knowing what I’m trying to do, but let’s break it down:
Atlantahelps is born of a personal desire to periodically give back throughout the year without the time and resource commitment of joining a specific charity, and of a personal belief that whatever else we all may agree or disagree on we’d like the world to be just a little bit better for everyone, particularly those in need. Atlantahelps offers the opportunity to give back to multiple local charities and charity types throughout the year – when and as they have the most need – while also giving everyone the chance to meet other like-minded people and spend a little social capital for a good cause. Sort of like a charity-of-the-month club, but without any official commitment!
Monthly giveups (think “tweetups with a purpose”) will be communicated through @atlantahelps on Twitter, this blog, and hopefully facebook eventually. The goal is for everyone to (ideally!) show up and donate, donate online, RT to encourage others to donate, or simply take a pass that month if things are too crazy (note the very important no-guilt aspect of this!). I’ll be tweeting and/or blogging and posting about a week before, and the day before, the giveups to communicate date/time/place, then after the giveups to report progress. Again, everyone doesn’t need to participate every month, or at all, but the opportunity to participate will be presented every month for anyone who is interested!
In keeping with my goal of making this easy and focused on helping I will not be creating any official vehicle for this group (such as a 501(c)(3), etc.) so any donations will be made directly to the charities. Many of these organizations have mechanisms in place to record donations and gifts, value them, etc., for tax purposes, and may also be able to provide donation receipts for you to use on your taxes, if applicable.
So, in short, my commitment for this year is to be at a charity each month for some period of time to make my own contributions, coordinate any other drop offs, meet and thank everyone, etc.. Maybe it will just be me there some months, and that’s ok. But maybe this will offer someone else cause to give a little throughout the year, too, which would be outstanding.
Initial ideas for giveups (subject to change, dates/times TBA):
- January – Atlanta food bank – http://www.acfb.org/
- February – Salvation army – http://www.volunteersolutions.org/uwatl/org/896542.html
- March – Create shoeboxes for children that are being taken into state custody (stuffed animal, small toy, something of their own – perhaps through http://www.gacrs.org/about.html)
- April – Restore (Habitat for Humanity) – http://www.atlantahabitat.org/restore.asp
- May – Goodwill – http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about/howweoperate/donate
- June – Samaritan House – http://www.samhouse.org/ and / or Nicholas House (NH will likely take a little planning to pull off, so it will be best to do later in the process) – http://www.nicholashouse.org/
- July – Celebrate with a tweetup dinner at cafe458? http://www.cafe458atl.com/
So, that’s it! Remember to follow @atlantahelps and bookmark this blog, send me any suggestions for improvement of this idea, and I hope to see you at one of the giveups soon.
Happy New Year everyone!
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