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Kids In Need launches as a part of Empty Stocking Fund

August 15, 2019
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In 2017, the Atlanta Community Food Bank began partnering with the Empty Stocking Fund. The Kids In Need program has functioned as an ancillary program of the Food Bank since 2000, operating as a free school supply “store” that served teachers in schools in which at least 80% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Similarly, Empty Stocking Fund maintains a store during the holiday season where eligible parents and guardians can shop for gifts.

As the two organizations shared space, they saw an opportunity to better maximize their impact and expertise. At that time, the Atlanta Community Food Bank was exploring options for spinning off the Kids In Need program to focus on its core competency – emergency food distribution – and Empty Stocking Fund was considering program expansion. In late 2018, the organizations received a grant from the Community Foundation’s Strategic Restructuring Fund to assess the feasibility of transferring the Kids In Need program to Empty Stocking Fund. The assessment process substantiated the viability of the program integration and the win-win benefits for both organizations of transferring the Kids In Need program to the Empty Stocking Fund. Empty Stocking Fund began planning for the design and implementation of the integration. In June of this year, the Foundation’s Strategic Restructuring Fund provided a second grant to support the implementation of the integration between Empty Stocking Fund and Kids In Need.

In July, Empty Stocking Fund officially absorbed the Kids In Need program with generous support from the Atlanta Community Food Bank through the transition process. As a spin to the Kids In Need’s traditional school supply store for teachers, Empty Stocking Fund has begun delivering class kits to teachers in select schools with the standard supplies needed for the grade they teach and reaching students directly through backpack distribution. In the first year, Empty Stocking Fund plans to deliver 3,500 class kits and provide 6,000 Atlanta Public School students with backpacks filled with school supplies.



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