How food help works in AtlantaThis short guide says who to call first and what to expect.Open the guideClose the guide
If you need to eat today, go to a place that serves hot meals. Most do not ask for ID or papers. See hot meals, or text FINDFOOD to 888-976-2232 and the Atlanta Community Food Bank sends back the pantries nearest you.
For groceries, go to a food pantry. Most pantries here get their food from the Atlanta Community Food Bank and are run by churches, schools and neighborhood groups. Each one picks its own days. Many open only one or two days a week, some serve only certain ZIP codes, and some let you come once a month. Call before you go and ask what to bring. A photo ID and a piece of mail with your address will cover most of them, and many ask for nothing. To get the three pantries closest to you, text FINDFOOD to 888-976-2232. See food pantries.
If money for food runs short every month, apply for SNAP (food stamps) at gateway.ga.gov or call 877-423-4746. If you have almost no money right now, say so. You may get benefits within 7 days. Many pantries have someone who can help you with the form. At many farmers markets, SNAP dollars buy twice as many fruits and vegetables. Ask for Georgia Fresh for Less.
If you are pregnant or have a child under 5, WIC gives you free healthy food and formula. Call 800-228-9173. You can have WIC and SNAP at the same time.
If you can't leave home or can't cook, some groups bring meals to you. Open Hand Atlanta cooks for people with a serious illness, and Meals On Wheels Atlanta serves older adults. Both can have a waiting list, so sign up early. See meal delivery.
This is the Center for a New Generation club at the Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy, part of Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta. Kids and teens come after school for activities like homework help, reading, STEM, music, art, chess, and cooking and gardening. The club also has a summer camp, and families who cannot pay can ask about help with fees.
Fulton County Senior Services is the county department for older adults. It runs neighborhood senior centers and four larger multipurpose senior facilities. They offer meals, classes, fitness and activities.
The East Atlanta Village Farmers Market is an outdoor market held on Thursday evenings in a park in East Atlanta. It sells local food and crafts, and it doubles SNAP/EBT dollars so $10 of EBT gets $20 of food. It also has chef cooking demos and a garden with kids' activities.
Peachtree Road Farmers Market is an outdoor market held on Saturday mornings at The Cathedral of St. Philip in Buckhead. Everything sold there is grown, raised, or made by the seller. The market takes EBT/SNAP and doubles those dollars, up to $50 a visit, and it buys unsold crops from farmers to give to the Intown Cares food pantry.
This federal program helps public schools, nonprofit private schools, and residential child care homes serve healthy lunches to kids every school day. Children from lower-income families, and kids who are homeless, in foster care, migrant, or runaway, can get these lunches free or at a reduced price through their school. Families do not apply here directly; they apply through their child's school.
Unearthing Farm & Market is a neighborhood farm and green space at 1534 Memorial Drive SE in Kirkwood. It holds a market on the first Saturday of each month and keeps a farm fridge with fresh produce on other days. The farm stand turns no one away for lack of money and doubles EBT.
Truly Living Well is a nonprofit urban farm on Atlanta's Westside that grows vegetables, herbs, and fruit without chemical pesticides. People can buy fresh produce at its on-site farm market and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box program, with sliding-scale pricing for those who need it. The farm also teaches people to grow their own food through classes like Gardening 101, farm tours, an Urban Grower Boot Camp, and youth programs such as a summer camp.
Lutheran Community Food Ministry is a weekday meal program run by the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Midtown Atlanta. It serves a free hot lunch to anyone who needs it, no questions asked, and also shares groceries and meals with nearby seniors and college students facing food insecurity.
SWEEAC is a nonprofit that started in 1988 when churches and volunteers in Southwest Atlanta joined together to fight hunger. It runs a food pantry that gives free groceries to families and individuals, including a monthly food box program just for seniors. It also hands out clothing, baby supplies, household items, and school supplies to people going through hard times.
First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta is a church at 16th and Peachtree in Midtown. Its Community Ministries gives free groceries, showers, clothing, haircuts, a computer lab and help with IDs to neighbors. The church also runs children's and youth programs, a weekday childcare program for babies and toddlers, and Sunday worship.
Intown Cares works to end homelessness and hunger in Intown Atlanta. It runs a pantry where you choose your own groceries twice a week, and it delivers food to people who cannot get there. Its team also helps people who are homeless move into housing and keeps helping after they move in.
Salem Bible Church is a church with two campuses, one on Baker Road in Atlanta and one in Stonecrest. It offers prayer, pastoral support and grief counseling to members and people in the community. It also has a social services office for each campus that you can call.
Mission Agape is an independent charity that began in 2008 with Korean-American groups in Duluth. Volunteers make sandwiches and lunches each week that go to people who are homeless through The Salvation Army and Atlanta Mission. In the fall the group has also bought new warm jackets for people who are homeless.
Wheat Street Baptist Church runs the Action Mission Ministry, a volunteer-run outreach program that gives out free groceries, clothing, and hot meals to neighbors in need. The ministry also helps people connect to SNAP and USDA food programs and offers Bible study for anyone who wants to join.
Concrete Jungle rescues fruit and vegetables that would go to waste and gets them to food pantries, shelters and other hunger relief groups. Volunteers pick fruit from trees and farms and work on a half-acre farm in southwest Atlanta. The group also buys imperfect produce from Georgia farmers and teaches people how to cook with fresh produce.
Food Well Alliance is an Atlanta nonprofit that helps community gardens, urban farms and orchards in five metro counties. It gives growers grants, compost, tools, tractor help, labor help and training. It also runs volunteer workdays at gardens and helps cities make local food plans.
Everybody Eats Together is a faith-based group in Ashview Heights that works to bring food and ownership to the neighborhood. People who need food can take its survey to ask for free pantry pick-up or delivery. It also has garden volunteer days, Sunday community meals, and a pay-what-you-can grocery cart, and it is working toward a community-owned grocery store.
Feeding GA Families is a nonprofit that has served since 2010. It gives out food through pantries, emergency food boxes, lockers and home delivery. It also offers housing help, job and youth programs, and items like hygiene products, clothing, and baby and pet supplies.
DeKalb Public Health is the public health agency for DeKalb County. Its health centers offer vaccines, family planning, HIV and STI testing and care, and treatment for minor health problems. It also runs a mobile wellness van and handles birth and death certificates and medical records requests.
Soldiers' Angels is a national nonprofit that helps military members, veterans, and their families. In Atlanta it runs a monthly food giveaway at the Atlanta VA Arcadia Clinic in Decatur and a food pantry on Lawrenceville Highway. You have to register first, and you register again each month.
