A Georgia native and finalist on this season of GPB’s The Great American Recipe is using her platform to educate on the issue of food insecurity and summer hunger. In the Atlanta Community Food Bank's Learning Kitchen, Leanna Pierre taught viewers how to recreate two of her favorite recipes and asked them to get involved in improving their communities.

Since  last summer, thousands of Georgians have turned to food banks, kitchens and shelters in order to make up for the loss of extra federal food stamp benefits that kept them from going hungry during the worst of the pandemic.

Officials said Wednesday that the masks will be delivered in the coming months, and are expected to reach an estimated 12 to 15 million vulnerable Americans.

Some sectors are thriving, while others continue to struggle, putting different people in vastly different situations. NPR is following four people who will help illustrate the arc of the recovery.