Thanks to all who came to our PORCH Party for Pantries! We partied with a purpose to the music of the Druid Hills Billys and the Rob Platner Trio. We are grateful for their entertainment, and the sponsorship of Boar’s Head and Wild Heaven Brewery!
Food, drink, sweets and family fun were enjoyed by all while we heard important updates about the work PORCH is doing. We raised awareness with 8 new volunteers, collected 68 bags of food and over $600 in cash donations. What a great day!
Many thanks to Christine Cotton, co-founder of PORCH Communities, and Steve Spokane, from PORCH Communities, for coming to party and support PORCH-Decatur! Thanks to our partner, PORCH-Marietta for co-hosting.
PORCH-Decatur: a local non-profit organization under the umbrella of PORCH Communities We are an all volunteer, grassroots hunger relief organization. We collect food and cash donations through monthly neighborhood food drives and distribute donations to feed hundreds of at-risk families in our community.
Barbara Hardin, Dot Moye and Hope Baker founded PORCH – Decatur in July 2020 as an ongoing response to community need. Ellen Bishop joined Barbara and Hope after the sudden death of our co-founder, Dot, in July, 2021.
We are sponsored through Holy Trinity Parish and organized within the structure of the national PORCH organization, enabling us to get up and running quickly using the simple, replicable model of PORCH.
How PORCH Works
PORCH is built around the very simple idea of a neighborhood food drive. Here’s how it works, in three easy steps:
Once a month, residents place a food donation on their front porch, based on a food pantry’s wish list.
A volunteer neighborhood coordinator goes porch to porch and picks up the food donations.
The donations are then delivered to our location to be passed on to the Decatur Emergency Assistance Ministry and other hunger-related organizations.
The three-step process is easy and it’s also efficient. With the help of dedicated volunteers, all the food collected from the neighborhood food drives moves from porch to pantries in just a few hours’ time. From there, it goes to individuals and families who struggle with food insecurity.
Why PORCH works
PORCH is easy. Donors just leave food on their porches and volunteers pick it up.
PORCH is consistent. Monthly drives provide an ongoing and stable supply of food to pantries and program participants.
PORCH is inclusive. Anyone can help by donating, collecting, sorting, distributing or organizing volunteers in as little as a few hours a month. We welcome everyone, kids to seniors. PORCH makes a great community service project for students too!
PORCH is flexible. Coordinators can request neighbors donate specific items as required by a pantry in any given month, best meeting the needs of the pantries and families. There is no monthly commitment for donors.
When: Second Sunday of each month from 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm, except in December
Where: Holy Trinity Parish at 515 E Ponce de Leon Ave, Decatur, GA
May, 2023 Most Needed Items: (no expiration dates before June, 2022, please!)
canned fruit (peaches, fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, pineapple)
canned corn regular
canned corn cream style
canned beef stew
canned chili
1 lb packages of yellow rice
grape or strawberry jelly–no glass, please!
juice boxes/pouches (for our unhoused clients)
toothpaste
shampoo
deodorant (women’s especially)
laundry pods
powdered laundry detergent
OUR ONGOING NEEDS
pasta sauce
canned tuna fish
small boxes corn muffin mix
pkgs of peanut butter crackers
sweet cereal
deodorant soap
toothpaste
sanitary pads
toilet tissue
deodorant
powdered laundry detergent or pods
**Economy-sized boxes of these are most welcome.
CHURCH OF THE COMMON GROUND NEEDS
Brown Paper Lunch Bags
Bottled Water (16oz)
Wrapped Soft Snacks (like granola bars)
Drink Powder Flavor Packets (indiv. size)
Mustard or Mayo Packets (indiv. size)
About PORCH
Started in 2010 in Chapel Hill, NC, PORCH is an all-volunteer,
grassroots hunger relief organization that has
collected and donated more than $10 million
in hunger relief across 30 PORCH communities in 10 states.
In July, 2022, PORCH-Decatur celebrated Two Years of food drives to help our community! The need in our community continues, and PORCH needs you! Help us collect, receive and process donations on 2nd Sundays. If physical tasks are not for you, checking expirations dates is a job you can do while sitting, so please join us!
Drop-off and sorting take place at: Holy Trinity Parish, 515 East Ponce de Leon Ave, Decatur, GA
Come to the double red doors on Sycamore Place
Food drives are on 2nd Sundays from 3-4:30pm
Neighborhood coordinators recruit neighbors to donate food, then pick up the donations before each monthly food drive. The NCs bring their neighborhood’s donations to the drop-off held from 3-4:30 pm on the 2nd Sunday of each month except December.
Be a General Volunteer! Come to our monthly food drive to check donations and prepare them for transfer to our recipient organizations.
Want to donate but don’t have a neighborhood coordinator? Individual Donors are welcome, too! Just drive up with your donations.
NEXT FOOD DRIVES:
May 14, 2023 Mother’s Day! Help our hungry mamas feed their families.
June 11, 2023
July 9, 2023
August 13, 2023
September 10, 2023
October 8, 2023
November 12, 2023
December 2023–no physical food drive. Please consider making a monetary donation to support PORCH and our recipient organizations.
This sweet family requested food donations at their little one’s birthday party, to donate to PORCH! We love creative ways to help out.
Our Impact
During our first two years of operation, PORCH-Decatur collected 2212 bags of food, worth approximately $44,240 and $1420 in monetary donations from our generous neighbors.
Non-perishable food and cash donations support the work of Decatur Emergency Assistance Ministry (DEAM).
Donations also support ministries for the food-insecure such as Holy Trinity’s sack lunches, Church of the Common Ground (faith ministry to Atlanta’s unhoused), Casa Alterna, the International Rescue Committee, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Free Fridge and more.
Supporting Neighborhoods
Contact us at Decatur@porchcommunities.org if you would like to contact your neighborhood coordinator or if you do not see your neighborhood listed.