Atlanta nonprofit receives $200,000 to address food insecurity

The Everyone Eats Foundation, an Atlanta nonprofit, will be opening a building to host various efforts to address food insecurity. The new project is backed by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, which contributed a $150,000 grant to help purchase the building. The new location will house a community garden, food bank, soup kitchen, and restaurant.

Atlanta-born Summer Jo says she founded this nonprofit for personal reasons.

“This building is here for people like me: for the village that raised me, for the people who live in food deserts, out of their cars, or in lower income neighborhoods,” Jo said. “For people who want to be healthy but were taught that they couldn't afford to eat better.”

The Everyone Eats Foundation became a registered nonprofit in 2017 after Jo decided to make the charity work she had been doing with her friends an official organization.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Mayor Andre Dickens. He said feeding people in Atlanta is a growing challenge due to inflation.

“1 in 9 Metro Atlantans live with food insecurity," Dickens said. "That includes 1 in 6 children, and so that's just too many. We have to continue to find ways to feed people because people have more month than money these days.”

Everyone Eats Foundation also received another $50,000 donation from Amerigroup Georgia to support the group's community work.