The hunger statistics from around Georgia are staggering. 28.2 percent of Georgia's children live in “food insecure homes” – that means homes where they can’t be sure when or where they’ll get their next meal. Many populations that Lutheran Services of Georgia serves are deeply impacted by hunger in their daily lives. LSG helps make sure that these families have the food they need, and the money raised through Hunger Walk helps make it possible.

How Hunger Affects Our Foster Families

Bringing in a foster child, particularly a medically fragile child or a child with special needs, is often more costly than the foster family may have anticipated. While families receive a stipend for opening their home to a foster child, it is sometimes not enough to cover all of the child’s expenses. Families are impacted when a child requires multiple trips a week to the doctor or around-the-clock care that prevents the foster parent from working. When children enter foster care due to neglect, the child may come to the foster home malnourished and with a host of medical problems that require a special, costly diet.

Money that LSG raises through Hunger Walk helps provide food assistance to these children. That support allows the foster parents to concentrate on creating a secure environment and ensuring the best care possible for the child.

Hunger Walk funds go toward providing nutritional support for foster families, either directly through supplying food items or by providing grocery store gift cards to help them stretch their food budget.

In addition to supporting LSG’s own programs – foster care, refugee and immigration services, adoption, family intervention services and FACES (adults with developmental disabilities), a portion of the funds raised through the Hunger Walk/Run are given back to local Lutheran congregations to use in their own hunger relief programs, including non-perishable food pantries, bag lunch ministries, Thanksgiving food boxes and monthly Saturday hot meal programs.

Register to Walk Today

Help Lutheran Services of Georgia as we work to fight hunger in Atlanta by registering for the 2016 Hunger Walk/Run. On March 13, more than 15,000 walkers and runners will come together at Turner Field for a family-friendly, fun-filled afternoon. Gates will open at noon, so come early and enjoy live music and tasty eats from some of the city's best food trucks. At 2:00 p.m., the walk/run will begin and take participants through historic downtown Atlanta and around the state Capitol. Click here sign up. Start your own team with your friends, family, coworkers or congregation, or join an existing team.

Help us make sure foster families, and all our clients, receive the support they need. Register today!