NETWorks, a Tucker-based cooperative of churches aligned to provide food and financial needs to those in need, held a community food experience that demonstrated the hurdles that food-insecure people must overcome in getting assistance to needed services.
The workshop, held Feb. 13 at Embry Hills United Methodist Church, one of the organization’s partners, was held in conjunction with the Atlanta Community Food Bank. It was part of NETWorks’ Love Your Neighbor as Yourself Month.
The exercise had participants assume the role of a person or family needing assistance. Several stations representing local, state and federal assistance programs, as well as food pantries and other resources were set up, and each participant visited the stations and got a mini-experience in the steps needed to apply for and receive food aid.
Participants, based the stipulations on their profile, were tasked with visiting as many stations as they could for 15 minutes, and then reported on their success or lack thereof.
The different stations included a corner store, a community kitchen, Women, Infant and Children (WIC) office, and a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program office.
Several people’s profiles indicated that they were without private transportation, and as a result they had to go to the bus station first before visiting the different stations.
Some participants reported that their efforts were made in vain, as either their profiled income level or geographic location prevented them from taking advantage of the programs.
Abby Thompson, the education and outreach specialist at the Atlanta Food Bank said the lack of government-available services for food-insecure families means they often have to rely more heavily on community food banks like NETWorks.
“There are people who go through the application process and receive SNAP benefits that are only $1 a day,” Thompson said. “In some cases outdated systems are being used to determine eligibility.”
If applicants are unhoused or don’t have a permanent address, they can also be rejected for benefits, NETWorks Executive Director David Fisher said.
“We offer people the option of using NETWorks as their permanent mailing address,” he said. “We have about 100 people who take advantage of this service.”
Thompson said the ACFB is working to set up a network of food pantries in outlying communities for people who may not have transportation, but that has met with resistance.
“People don’t want it in their community, because they think it brings in a bad element, but in reality, the need is in their community,” Thompson said. “It could be your neighbor or someone’s elderly parents.”
Fisher said several years ago, the center served about 25 to 30 families a week. That number has jumped to about 80 families. In terms of pounds of food, NETWorks distributed more than 100,000 pounds of food in 2019. In 2024, that number topped 400,000.
NETWorks, a cooperative of 21 churches in the Northlake, Embry Hills, and Tucker area, helps food-insecure individuals with a two-pronged approach. It offers temporary emergency food and support for people in need, including unhoused individuals, and ongoing help for those needing long-term solutions.
