The stream of colorful T-shirts and goodwill covered Capitol Avenue from Turner Field to downtown on a cloudless 70-degree Sunday in Atlanta.

It was a beautiful thing in the eyes of Jeanne Wieckert of Alpharetta, one of an estimated 12,000 participants in the 24th annual Hunger Walk to benefit the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Joey Ivansco/AJC (ENLARGE)

A crowd starts the Hunger Walk, a fund-raiser for the Atlanta Community Food Bank that was expected to raise about $200,000 in its 24th year.

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"The sea of people is amazing, and you know they're all here not just for themselves," said Wieckert, who has participated in "at least 10" Hunger Walks with fellow members of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. "They put their feet to the pavement for somebody else."

The annual event, which included a 10K run and 5K walk that began and ended in the blue parking lot at Turner Field, is the year's largest special event for the food bank, which fights hunger by working with 800 organizations in 38 North Georgia counties.

By the time the figures are tallied, food bank founder and Executive Director Bill Bolling expects the interfaith event will have raised more than $200,000.

"This is such a unique event," Bolling said of the afternoon gathering, which treated its participants and their families to live music, games and words of inspiration. "There are Muslim, Jewish and Christian groups wanting to end hunger across the city."

There also were high school students. About 35 Honor Society and Beta Club members were representing Atlanta's M.L. King High School for the fourth straight year, according to Honor Society sponsor Kathy Woods, who has participated in 15 Hunger Walks.

Junior Joel Kight was participating in his first walk.

"A lot of people are starving. I want to help any way I can," said the college-prospect football player. "It feels real good doing something positive when there's so much negative going on."

Bolling said the food bank network helps 60,000 North Georgia families each month.

It was a beautiful day for a stroll, with enough of a breeze to cool off walkers who had experienced sub-freezing temperatures last week.

Daryl Seay of Stone Mountain didn't have it as easy as many. He carried his 5-year-old son Daryl Jr. on his shoulders for about a mile, with sweat streaming down his face and neck. He walked with wife Stephanie and 8-year-old daughter Erin as part of a group from Decatur Seventh Day Adventist.

"It's been a good workout, more than I deserve," said Seay, who got the heart pumping with some yard work earlier in the day. "You know I'm gonna get some rest later."

Bolling said he has seen bad weather affect the walk only twice in its history, including one year when it had rained for three straight days and stopped just an hour before the walk.

"A week ago, we had snow ... and it's like this today," he said. "This is just the way God blesses us."