In its 32nd year, WordFeast: Food for the Body and Soul brought together local authors and performers on Dec. 5 at the Fabrefaction Theatre Company to share their work while gathering donations for the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
Started in 1979, same year as the food bank, the event aimed to bring together the arts community with a cause that is right at home. “Words are very powerful and through WordFeast, we can use the spoken word to raise hunger awareness,” said WordFeast coordinator Betty Hart.
The evening brought together local authors and performers such as Pearl Cleage, Rob Cleveland and Calvin Alexander Ramsey who shared excerpts of their plays, poems and books with an intimate audience. The event received 373 pounds of non-perishable items and $240 in monetary donation.
In the last year, the food bank saw a 34 percent growth in its requests for resources. “There is more need for hunger awareness and more need for resources,” stated Bill Bolling, CEO of Atlanta Community Food Bank. “[WordFeast] is my favorite time of year, so this is also a way for our local artists to share their craft while bringing awareness to a problem. It is really important that we try to connect all of these various communities to combat this problem.”
Every year, Atlanta Community Food Bank distributes more than 30 million pounds of food and grocery products to more than 700 partner nonprofits which provide food assistance. The outreach extends to 38 counties in Metro Atlanta and North Georgia.
In Other News: Raising money through a company-wide Jeans Day, the Buckhead law firm of Morris, Manning and Martin, LLP created and distributed 35 Christmas stockings and 35 gift bags to the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Dec. 14 along with other volunteer organizations. The number of stockings and gift bags commemorated the 35th anniversary of the law firm's founding.
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