Free community food bank to open in Atlanta’s Adamsville neighborhood

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Currently, one in six people in Atlanta are living with food insecurity, according to Kyle Waide, Atlanta Community Food Bank CEO.

Waide was on hand on Monday for the ribbon cutting at the new Atlanta Community Food Bank Food Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SW, along with Mayor Andre Dickens and a number of Atlanta City councilmembers.

The community food center will open Tuesday morning. It’s basically a free grocery store for Adamsville, and neighbors said this couldn’t have come at a better time.

“You can’t live without food. We need food, and we need good food,” said Chrysandra Roland, who has lived in the Adamsville neighborhood on the west side of Atlanta for more than 63 years.

Roland said she knows firsthand how hard it can be to get groceries.

“There’s no grocery store on this end of the community. There’s a grocery store about five, six miles away. But everybody doesn’t have cars. The bus doesn’t go that way either,” said Roland.

Roland was front and center on Monday for the grand opening celebration of the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s newest community food center.

The Adamsville location is the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s fourth such center, with other locations in Jonesboro, Marietta and Stone Mountain.

Waide said the Adamsville location just makes sense.

“It’s about how many people in the neighborhood are facing food insecurity, and we know that that is really concentrated here,” said Waide.

More than half of the food is provided by grocery stores, farmers and manufacturers. Some is bought, and about 15% is from the federal government.

Roland said all of it will be appreciated by her Adamsville neighbors.

“This is going to be great. I can come up and get free stuff and keep eating and stay healthy,” said Roland.

To shop, it’s best if you make an appointment. Click here for more information.