♪♪ In all directions around the Atlanta Community Food Bank, your eyes can be deceived by the sprawling blanket of trees.

What appears to be a vast, natural expanse is nature's cover for one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country- 6 million people in metro Atlanta.

And this food bank represents a lifeline for tens of thousands of residents.

Food insecurity is nearly as widespread as the trees.

[Kyle Waide] We serve food insecure families across North Georgia, close to 150,000, um, uh, households a month.

[Debra Shoaf] The people we serve are our next-door neighbors.

It doesn't take much to create food insecurity.

The majority of the people we are serving are members of working families.

Covering 345,000 square feet and operating daily, the Atlanta Community Food Bank runs on a network of 190 staff members and 1700 regular volunteers to meet the ever-growing need across North Georgia.

Staffers like Claude Jones realize this is more than just a paycheck.

[Claude] It's that feeling of being a part of a... a goal, a mission of ending hunger.

In 2022, the food bank celebrated two years in this facility.

Executive Director Kyle Waide and Chief Financial Officer Debra Shoaf say the timing could not have been more fortunate.

Going back to 2017, they knew they had outgrown their old building on the city's west side.

Thus began three years of intensive fundraising and construction.

[Kyle] It just so happened that we moved into this building in March of 2020.

[Debra] On March 11th, about 48 hours later or less, uh, everything started to shut down.

[Kyle] The pandemic really erupted, shut down the economy and we saw an unprecedented spike in demand as a result of that economic shutdown.

After meeting the immediate needs during the early days of COVID, the new expanded food bank was able to increase partnerships with local farmers.

From farms like this, managed by Rahul Anand, comes the fresh produce upon which the food bank relies.

[Rahul] Being able to feed people does really create a sense of pride.

It's... it's- You can do all kinds of things, but at the end of the day, everybody's got to eat and being able to produce the thing that they eat is... is really great.

Having the opportunity to work with places like the Atlanta Community Food Bank is, you know, a real benefit to operations like mine.

So, being able to expand and have partners who can, you know, help me do that, and I can help out as well, puts me in a position to, you know, pay staff reasonable wages, expand, and then get to a point where we're profitable enough to then donate produce to some of these organizations as well.

Other farmers in rural Georgia, like this watermelon grower, donate imperfect food to the food bank, food that is perfectly edible but may not look good enough for a grocery store shelf.

That prevents waste and bolsters the food bank's offering of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Back at the food bank's loading docks, where the fresh produce arrives, there's a certain kind of energy.

Volunteers are almost never in short supply.

Staff members take pride in their work.

[Claude] To create a lot of meals for the community is- It's beautiful.

And when Kyle Waide and Debra Shoaf look to the future, they see opportunity, the chance to grow and bring food security to their neighbors living in the tree-covered communities of North Georgia.