February 2025 Newsletter:
On the Road with THCA
After being iced in for almost a week in January, February has been quite an active month here at Toco Hills Community Alliance.
We started off the month on a sunny Saturday at our newest location for a Mobile Food Pantry, Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church. With about 30 volunteers from the church and from the Community Wellness Center, almost 10,000 pounds of fresh produce was bagged up and given out to over 240 families. This turned out to be a great location and we, the church, and the volunteers are looking forward to doing it again soon.
By the second week in February, we experienced a near record-breaking week in which we served 803 families by sharing over 30,000 pounds of food – even with cold rain almost the whole week.
On yet another cool and gray day, we were on the road again – this time to the elementary school that we support, Laurel Ridge Elementary School. With volunteers from the school and several THCA volunteers working together, over 120 families received almost 10,000 pounds of fresh produce in just 2 hours.
You may remember that in the fall we started a pilot program of partnering with Door Dash, in which they deliver our boxes of food on the road for a low, flat rate of $4.95 per box. The pilot targeting seniors and disabled veterans was a resounding success, and with support from Dekalb County, this program is moving forward, and even possibly expanding.
It is clear that food insecurity and the need for food continues to increase in our neighborhood, with proposed cuts to food programs looming. In order to take on food insecurity and overcome it, we will have to be forward thinking and innovative. We will have to continue to establish and nurture community partnerships, have to continue to find ways to work with broad-based coalitions to advocate for the health of our community, and continue to take it on the road to meet the people where they are.
Recently, one of our neighbors, Billy, and I were chatting. He expressed gratitude for his weekly box of food and said that because of that box of food that would cost him $100 or more at the store, he was able to save money on food so that he could pay rent, and keep a roof over the heads of his family, including his disabled wife.
This is not only true for Billy, but for so many of our neighbors. In fact, in a December survey of neighbors coming for food, 88% of them agreed that after receiving food from us, they have more money to pay for housing, healthcare, childcare, and other needs.
Your support means we can keep meeting people where they are and ensuring that they can make their funds stretch to cover basic needs.
Thank you for making it all possible.
Rev. Dr. Lisa Heilig
Executive Director
Team THCA Walking Down the Road!
In-Person and Virtual Event: Sunday, March 9, 2025
In-Person Event at The Home Depot Backyard
Event Time: 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Team THCA is once again walking down the road in Hunger Walk Run 2025 – and we need your support!
You can help us reach our team fundraising goal by making a donation on behalf of the entire team or a specific team member, or even take the next step against hunger by walking with our team.
All funds our team raises goes toward our purchase of food at the Atlanta Community Food Bank, where we can buy food for only 8 cents a pound. This allows us to share the $100 box of food at a cost of $1 to us.
Our community has always made the Hunger Walk Run a major success for us, so thank you in advance!
Current Items Needed
Visit our website to see the most current list of items needed for in-kind donations. A full list of items can be found at the link below!
We can take donations any weekday from 9am to noon.
{Please note: we no longer take clothing items. Clothing can be donated to Giving On the Go. See website at GivingGo.org}
We Accept Stock Gifts
Did you know we can accept stock donations at Toco Hills Community Alliance? Reduce taxes* on capital gains while deducting the fair market value of gifted stock held more than one year. It’s fast, safe and free to donate stock at the link below
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