Atlanta food bank officials asks for publics help to find new location after receiving notice

ATLANTA - A busy day for staff and volunteers at the Southwest Ecumenical Emergency Assistance Center, packing food boxes for distribution across metro-Atlanta.

James McLemore has been coming here for about four years.  He is one of the many seniors who benefit from the program by sharing the meat, produce, and other items in his food boxes with neighbors.  

McLemore told FOX 5 Atlantas' Deidra Dukes, "It's very important, very important. Everybody needs a place they can go and get some help."

Leaders of several churches in southwest Atlanta formed the organization in 1988 to address the demand for services in their community.

Tammy Patterson oversees food distribution.

"A lot of families are having a hard time.  They are trying to decide if they are going to pay their light bill, pay rent, or buy groceries," Patterson said.

SWEEAC serves some 5000 families a month in the Atlanta area, supplying them with food boxes, clothing, toiletries, household cleaning items, and school supplies.

"It's just been very hard on the families," Patterson said, "and now that we are having to leave, we don't know what the community, how they are going to get what they need without us being here."

The organization has operated out of the basement of West Hunter Street Baptist Church since 2007.

They're now scrambling to find a new location after receiving a notice to vacate the space in 60 days.

"In two weeks, we are really down to two weeks, almost two and a half weeks where we will actually stop the food program, so it's going to affect so many people," Ingram said.

SWEEAC needs an 8-10 thousand square foot facility with a loading dock, clearance for trucks, a place for storage, and commercial refrigeration units.

Ingram is reaching out to the public in hopes someone will help them find a new distribution site before the September 4th deadline.