The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everyone, particularly those already marginalized and unprivileged. Food4Life has been there since the earliest days of the pandemic, enabling community members around Atlanta to help each other survive by caring for each other's vital needs.

Food4Life grew out of a project called Food Not Bombs. When the pandemic hit in 2020 we massively scaled up, delivering groceries to households impacted by the pandemic or by general economic hardship. The all-volunteer project made over 14,000 grocery box deliveries in 2020 and 2021. When we learned that outdoor gatherings are quite safe, we transitioned back to the pre-pandemic grocery distribution model, allowing people to show up and select their own food. We are still delivering on a smaller scale to those who cannot come to in-person grocery distributions.

Core ethics

We believe food is a human right. Our core ethic calls on us to treat everyone with dignity and respect. We encourage everyone to both take food and help in whatever ways they are able. We do not believe in creating divisions between "volunteers" and "beneficiaries".

The program is straightforward in practice

Bulk food is donated by charities, grocery stores, community groups, and farmers. Volunteers pick it up and bring it to the giveaway locations. Food and other goods are given away to anyone who shows up, no questions asked, no papers demanded, nothing expected in return.