Our Mission Second Helpings Atlanta is a nonprofit food rescue organization whose mission is to reduce hunger and food waste in the Metro Atlanta area by rescuing healthy, nutritious, surplus food and distributing it to those in need. With a community of over 300 volunteers, SHA serves as the link between our network of food donors and partner agencies who feed the hungry on a daily basis. The food we rescue every day gets diverted from landfills and is used to feed those in need, making Atlanta a more environmentally responsible metropolitan area. Join in on the mission at: https://secondhelpingsatlanta.org/volunteer/
Description
Second Helpings Atlanta began as a social action project in 2004 at Temple Sinai Atlanta, organized and operated solely by congregants. The vision was to create a vibrant community of food rescuers - neighbors helping neighbors - that would expand in scope and impact over time. Second Helpings grew steadily and ultimately became too large for the confines of a congregational project. In 2012, we became an independent nonprofit and Second Helpings was incorporated as Second Helpings Atlanta, Inc. (SHA), and received our 501(c)(3) status in March 2011.
The resulting momentum has been historic. Since 2004, Second Helpings Atlanta has rescued over 16 million pounds of food; along the way incorporating several new programs into our operations and consistently rescuing over 300,000 pounds of food every month.
In 2021, SHA diverted over 3.6 million pounds of surplus food from landfills, enough to provide over 3 million nutritious meals to those in need. In addition, we provided 400,000 prepared meals to our partner agencies through our Full Plate Project. 168,000 of those meals were meal kits packed through the Meals with Meaning program, our newest partnership with HelloFresh.
