Georgia
Energy floods Tina’s hands as she remembers the day she and her husband learned they were about to receive a new home. “I was jumping for joy because I wouldn’t have thought that we would get a house [since we] stayed in the projects.” The year was 1996, and Habitat for Humanity had offered 100 families 100 new homes as a celebration of Atlanta’s Olympic Centennial celebration. Tina, her husband, and her two children moved into the home, ready to start their new lives.
Tina delightfully found her new home was only seconds away from an agency of the Atlanta Community Food Bank with a reputable after-school program. The facility offers kids a place to catch up on school work, participate in extracurricular activities and enjoy a hot meal—all free of charge to the working parents of the rehabilitated neighborhood. Once the family had settled themselves, Tina immediately enrolled her children in the agency’s services.
The nurturing space has been pivotal for Tina, who, since moving, has had two more children, the studious Aaliyah and curious Isaiah. Tina struggled to keep her four children strong as her family watched her husband pass away from complications with diabetes. The neighborhood after-school program was imperative in keeping Tina busy with volunteer work and her kids focused on their school work during those sad times.
Now with one son in college, Tina still happily volunteers at the whitewashed wood-sided facility only caddy corner to her home. As she pursues her own medical assistance studies, she is grateful for the organization that established strong scholarly paths for all four of her children.
Find out more about the Atlanta Community Food Bank.