From empty stockings to empty backpacks

Each holiday season, Empty Stocking Fund (ESF) sets up “Santa’s Village,” where Atlanta families that qualify for public assistance can shop for toys for their children. Recognizing that it had unutilized capacity in the non-holiday months, it began looking for ways to use its capabilities for greater impact year-round. In 2017, Empty Stocking Fund began subleasing the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s Kids In Need program space, which functioned as free school supply store for teachers. Both organizations saw the potential for greater collaboration.

The organizations received a grant from the Community Foundation’s Strategic Restructuring Fund to assess partnership feasibility in 2018. The assessment highlighted the win-win benefits for both organizations of transferring the Food Banks’ Kids In Need program to the Empty Stocking Fund. In July 2019, Empty Stocking Fund officially absorbed the Kids In Need program with generous support from the Atlanta Community Food Bank through the transition process and a second grant from the Foundation’s Strategic Restructuring Fund.

With its expanded services, Empty Stocking Fund distributed 3,500 class kits and 6,000 backpacks to Atlanta Public School students this year and will provide 40,000 holiday gift packages this holiday season.

This story was originally published in The Giving Life.