My grandfather who was born in a slum in India and single-handedly took his entire family out of poverty, however, because he was always taking care of other people, he neglected his own health. He ended up dying decades later because of his sacrifice to his family and his community via diseases caused by food insecurity. His story is always told by my father and his siblings, and it made me want to search for a way to help people struggling, like my grandfather, to have to worry about one less thing.

I decided I wanted to help change the world, but I needed to start small. In the last two months I have connected with the University of Georgia and their Campus Kitchen, which is a student-run organization that packs, cooks and distributes food to specific clients and organizations, and they have allowed me to volunteer with them. Alongside that, I have been working with a member of AmeriCorp, which is a nationwide program that requires participants to get 900 hours of food related service in 11 months, and she has connected me to numerous non-profit organizations. 

After 15 years at ACAD and in my community, I am ready to pass the torch and encourage those of you here to get involved. Regardless of how little or how much food there is, someone in the community can benefit from your involvement. 

As for members of the community who wish to get involved there are various ways you can get involved both indirectly and directly. If you want to donate food or basic necessities to a place then the Foodbank of Northeast Georgia and the City of Refuge are two places that are always accepting donations. 

If you want to be more directly involved, you can volunteer to either cook, bag groceries, or distribute food and it can take as little as one hour of your time at places such as the UGArden and Campus Kitchen, or the Sparrows Nest. Honestly, the options and opportunities are endless. 

In the end this journey for myself has only begun, but I have spent the last year and a half searching for a way to help our community while not being aware just how close the solution was. So my story isn’t meant to show you some incredible new solution I have found to an age-old problem, it is meant to show you that even one person can help shift the narrative and widen their worldview but only if they search. You can help tap into the food network around you, but more importantly I hope you can see the power of creating connections no matter where you are. 

To get involved, reach out to:

• Campus Kitchen: [email protected], 1242 1/2 S Lumpkin St, Athens, GA
• UGArden: [email protected], 2500 S Milledge Ave, Athens, GA
• City of Refuge: cityofrefugeathens@gmail, 105 Whitehead Rd, Athens, GA
• Foodbank of Northeast Georgia: (706) 354-8191, 861 Newton Bridge Rd, Athens, GA
• Sparrow’s Nest: [email protected], 745 Prince Ave, Athens, GA 
• Our Daily Bread: 706-559-4426, 165 Pulaski Street | Athens, GA