Americold, Feed the Children Partner with Atlanta Mayor’s Office, to Provide 1,200 Families with Hunger relief this Spring

Americold and Feed the Children are teaming up to provide support to Atlanta students and their families through food distribution and community resource events this spring with an aim of alleviating the stress of those facing food insecurity daily.

The four-month program will kick off on March 1 with a community event serving 300 families. Events will be held monthly throughout the city through June.

An increasing number of children in Georgia do not have consistent access to enough food, 1 in 7 children in Georgia are food insecure. This can have long-term effects on their health and future. Children who are food insecure are more likely to struggle in school, and to have growth and developmental issues. Atlanta-based Americold and Feed the Children are working together with the Mayor’s Office of International and Immigrant Affairs – Welcoming Atlanta to deliver hope through four community resource events that will provide access to food, essential items, books and additional resources.

Americold and Feed the Children hope to help bring awareness to the need for additional resources in the community as many Atlanta residents reside in food deserts and have difficulty accessing enough food to support their families. Georgia has one of the highest shares of low-income areas whose residents also lack adequate access to supermarkets.

At each event families will receive a 25-pound box of food and a 15-pound box of essentials including soaps and self-care items, and a 5-pound action box that includes fun and healthy activities for children. Community partners including Atlanta Public Schools, CORE, Department of Parks and Recreation, Children’s Museum Atlanta, and the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library will be on-site to share information on additional support services and programs that are available for children and their families.

The partnership will also directly support Atlanta Public Schools, providing over 20 schools throughout the district, each school will receive items to help stock resource rooms where students will have access to food and essentials. With schools closing soon for spring break the need for accessible food increases. Thousands of students in Atlanta rely on free or reduced lunches and families must make impossible choices between buying food and paying utility bills or other necessary costs like transportation and childcare when this resource is not available.

Americold has a passion for defeating hunger, they recently partnered with Feed the Children to distribute 8,000 ready-to-eat meal kits to students throughout the month of December 2022 to help support students with access to food during the holiday when families struggle to provide enough food without free, or reduced cost meals available while schools are closed winter break. These meals were distributed at Community Resource events across Atlanta neighborhoods including Adamsville, Morningside, Lindbergh, Orchard Knob, Lenox, Virginia Highlands, Perkerson, Bolton and Underwood Hills.

Americold plays an integral role in the food supply chain, owning and operating 250 temperature-controlled warehouses around the world, with approximately 1.5 billion cubic feet of storage. Its

facilities connect food producers, processors, distributors and retailers to consumers, ensuring that food is preserved and protected on its journey from farm to fork.

“Our partnership with Feed the Children is incredibly meaningful because it is one way that we show our commitment to fighting hunger and to giving back in the communities where we live and work. We’re especially proud of these events in Atlanta because our company headquarters are here. We also own and operate a dozen cold storage facilities in the area to deliver on our mission to help our customers feed the world,” said George Chappelle, CEO of Americold.

During the five-year partnership, Americold has donated critical funds to Feed the Children as well as travelled hundreds of thousands of miles providing complimentary temperature-controlled transportation services of chilled and frozen goods. Together, the organizations have helped feed hundreds of thousands of families across America.

Feed the Children believes it takes everyone – the nonprofit sector, corporations, community organizations, government officials and food suppliers – to come together to do good for those who need it. When efforts are combined, a greater impact is achieved.

“Children cannot thrive unless their basic needs are met,” said Travis Arnold, president and CEO of Feed the Children. “A widespread issue like childhood hunger will only be solved when enough people work together. Partners like Americold are vital to our mission as we serve vulnerable communities in cities across the United States.”

About Americold

Americold is the world’s largest publicly traded REIT focused on the ownership, operation, acquisitions and development of temperature-controlled warehouses. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Americold owns and operates 250 temperature-controlled warehouses, with approximately 1.5 billion cubic feet of storage, in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South America. Americold’s facilities are an integral component of the supply chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors, and retailers to consumers. Visit www.americold.com for more information.

About the Mayor’s Office of International & Immigrant Affairs – Welcoming Atlanta

The Mayor’s Office of International & Immigrant Affairs – Welcoming Atlanta is committed to positioning Atlanta as a welcoming City-a connected, inclusive community that uplifts our foreign-born population and provides an opportunity for all-and a global hub for diplomacy, business, innovation, education, culture, and sports. MOIIA’s mission is to develop and foster relationships between Atlanta’s international communities, City departments, and external partners to empower our foreign-born population through access to information, to identify economic opportunities, and to address local and global challenges.