Colleges Connect to Collect: The Atlanta Collegiate Food Drive (CAPSTONE)

Hunger and food insecurity exist across millions of households in the US, and in even greater numbers in the state of Georgia. In fact, Georgia ranks fourth among the ten states with the highest food insecurity. Hunger and food insecurity have negative implications for the health and well being of children and adults. Such outcomes include fatigue, headaches, and frequent colds among children, and worsening chronic and acute diseases among adults. A non-governmental approach to addressing hunger and food insecurity includes food-banking. The Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) collects, warehouses, and distributes 2 million pounds of food and other donated items to Georgia households each month. Among its other activities, the ACFB collects food donations through food drives. The capstone project, Colleges Connect to Collect, was created to assist Atlanta college students in hosting food drives on their college campuses. There were 2088 pounds of food collected and donated to the ACFB through the project. Recommendations for sustaining the project are included in this report