The Community Assistance Center served 9,633 people in the last 12 months, with 7,987 of them residing in Sandy Springs, Executive Director Francis Horton told the Sandy Springs City Council on Aug. 19.
Horton thanked the council for the financial support it provides to the Community Assistance Center (CAC), which totals $200,000 annually.
Horton said 50 percent of this year’s CAC’s clients had never asked for help before. Horton said more shocking to him was that 77 percent of them work at least one job. Visits to the food pantries have risen 77 percent in the past two years, a trend also seen in requests for financial assistance.
Horton told the city council that the Atlanta Community Food Bank reported that one in nine North Georgia residents are food insecure. He said one in six children are food insecure.
“If they’re food insecure, they’re insecure in other areas as well. They’re housing insecure, they’re childcare insecure, and healthcare insecure. And so that’s an indicator of what their life is like,” Horton said.
The food assistance CAC provided through its food pantries over the past 12 months was worth approximately $1.9 million, with Sandy Springs families benefiting from almost $1.6 million of that total.
The CAC helped out families by preventing 1,023 evictions, including 833 Sandy Springs families. Financial assistance for the past 12 months reached $689,422, with $557,026 used to help Sandy Springs residents.
CAC provides more than food and financial assistance. A total of 681 students received help with education, including 345 from Sandy Springs. The Cares for Kids program helped 4,000 children, with 3,200 residing in Sandy Springs. Cares for Kids provides summer meals, backpacks filled with school supplies for the start of the school year, coats in the fall, and holiday gifts.
The Career Center counseled 187 people, with 127 from Sandy Springs.
It takes more than money to run the CAC, and 423 volunteers (340 from Sandy Springs) spent 49,000 hours helping other community members.
Horton explained how the CAC mobilizes the community in other ways, getting help from companies, congregations, schools, and other nonprofits. One partner is the Sandy Springs Education Force, which provides a teacher supply closet throughout the year. That impacts thousands of children each year.
The CAC will hold Broadway Lights, its annual benefit gala, on Saturday, Sept. 20, from 6 to 10 p.m. The gala will be held at the Crowne Plaza Perimeter Atlanta at Ravinia, 4335 Ashford Dunwoody Rd. in Dunwoody. The gala will include a three-course dinner and drinks, with live performances by the City Springs Theatre Conservatory. Auction items will be available for bids. Tickets are available online, $250 per person and $3,000 as a host for a table of 10.
The mission of the CAC is to provide basic needs assistance to neighbors in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, preventing homelessness and hunger, promoting self-sufficiency, and empowering their clients to thrive.
