For many years, Emmaus House has responded to inadequate access to healthy food options in Peoplestown and neighboring areas. Since 2016, our Client Choice Food Pantry has distributed more than 60,000 lbs of food.

Food Pantry donations are greatly appreciated to help us meet the growing needs of families who live within the 30315 zip code. Below is a list of items you can donate to our food pantry. Check back often as this list will be regularly updated as our needs change.

Food donations are only accepted on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00 - 2:30pm and on Fridays from 9:00am - 12:00pm. The Food Pantry is located at 27 Haygood Ave, Atlanta, GA 30315. For ease of delivery, you may drive your vehicle up the driveway between the Lokey Center and Emmaus House and park in front of our two-bay garage doors.

Food Pantry Donation List

PLEASE NOTE: all items needs to be able to survive long periods on our shelves without spoiling.

Meal kits that don’t require extra ingredients
Kits that include canned meat, canned sauce and pasta all in one box are great choices
Canned soups and pasta meals
Canned meat:
- Tuna
- Chicken
- Salmon
- Potted meat blends
- Sardines
Canned fruits and vegetables
Basic staple pantry items
- Flour, sugar, cornmeal, rice, dry beans, oil, shortening, baking soda and powder, vanilla extract and seasonings of all kinds (garlic, pepper, salt, chili powder, etc.)
100% juice
Household cleaning supplies and paper products
- Toilet paper, paper towels, bleach, sanitizing solutions, sanitizing wipes and basic cleaning supplies are very welcomed by those in need.
- Hygiene products
- Deodorant, soap, toothpaste, shaving cream, maxi pads, tampons, panty liners and even feminine wipes.

Contact Adam at 404-525-5948 ext. 25 or at adamseeley@emmaushouse.org for more information or questions.

Don’t have any food to donate?

Every $10 you donate can buy groceries for one family from our Food Pantry.

Donate Here

Programs, Community InvolvementKATHERINE BRANCHMay 18, 2018

Shining our Light – Alexis’ Journey

YOTM Senior Spotlight: Alexis (center) pictured with YOTM friends, Quavontaye and Malik, before heading to VSU with $20,000 in scholarships.

When Alexis Peterson set foot on the campus of Valdosta State University in mid-August, she had one mission in mind: to let her light shine. Her sister Maxine ‘made a way’ to rent a car that would take Alexis on the 226-mile journey from Atlanta to campus. After a short stop at The Waffle House, Alexis moved into her new home in Langdale Hall. She is one of 1,600 freshmen at VSU. This historically large class size is no match for self-assured Alexis who hopes to help her introverted roommate, Tatiyana, break out of her shell.

“I feel so blessed. Emmaus is my family… I love them. I worked hard, but Emmaus helped get me here. I wouldn’t be willing to walk up to someone, shake their hand, and introduce myself like I do now. I’m going to be myself and shine my light.” – Alexis Peterson

With just a few weeks under her belt, Alexis is acclimating to college life as a Computer Information Systems major- a nod to her time in the Saturday STEAM program at Emmaus House. She has a full academic schedule that includes Human Geography and a 4-day per week “Principles of Computer Programming” course. She’s even been to her first party – which she jokingly described as “pretty lame.”

Fun aside, Alexis credits her commitment to making ‘good friend choices’ and her focus on academics to the support and guidance she received attending Emmaus House programs throughout her middle and high school years. Thanks to your generosity, our capacity to support Alexis, her family and other families in Peoplestown has grown this past year.

This year marks 50 years that Emmaus House has served the Peoplestown community. In addition to celebrating this important milestone, we’re looking ‘Forward from Fifty.’ We’re keeping busy each day expanding our social service and education offerings. With the support of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, we’ve doubled the amount of food we can distribute through our Food Pantry. A converted two-bay garage houses our commercial refrigerator and freezer to offer produce, meats, and dairy to our clients. In conjunction with the Peoplestown Family Initiative (PFI), we are moving closer to the goal of removing food insecurity as a barrier to success.

Alexis’ favorite program, Youth on the Move (YOTM), is back this fall – bigger and better than ever! We’re grateful that The United Way of Greater Atlanta helps make this possible. ‘Let your light shine’ is just one of the many empowering mantras youth like Alexis learn when they spend their evenings getting critical homework help and exploring exciting career paths at YOTM.

When YOU shine your light by donating, you help children and youth to succeed at school and you help parents move toward greater economic well-being. An anonymous donor has pledged to match, dollar for dollar, the funds we raise as you shine your light on Emmaus House - up to $17,000. The impact of every dollar you give will be DOUBLED. With your help, we can look ‘Forward from Fifty’ by serving, supporting, and listening to our neighbors here on the southside of Atlanta.

Thank you for partnering with us to make a difference in the lives of children, youth, and families in Peoplestown and surrounding neighborhoods. Alexis’ success story is just one of many we are grateful to experience each day- reminding us of how far we have come and inspiring us to continue the work God calls us to do. Only through your unwavering faith and support are these successes possible.

Donate today to support children and youth who hope to follow in Alexis’ footsteps. Your donation will be matched – dollar for dollar! Your donation will result in even more inspiring stories as we move ‘Forward from Fifty.’

Donate today

Blog, Community Involvement, Programs, UncategorizedKATHERINE BRANCHSeptember 20, 2017

Our Two-generation Approach in Action

WHEN WE FIRST MET MICAH* at our Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® program in the summer of 2015, he was a rising fourth grader at D.H. Stanton Elementary School. Micah was hard to miss. He had a way of lighting up a room with just his smile. His intellectual curiosity inspired the tutors who worked with him.

But at home, Micah experienced some serious challenges. His mother, La ‘Tasha, was suffering from significant health challenges that threatened them with homelessness.

One weeknight in July, Micah’s mom attended one of our weekly meetings for parents of Freedom Schools scholars. There, La ‘Tasha learned about the other services available at Emmaus House. And when our team realized the crisis La ‘Tasha and Micah faced, we invited them to become one of the first families to enroll in our Peoplestown Family Initiative (PFI). PFI is a new case management program that seeks to help families to overcome the barriers that often lead to poverty.

La ‘Tasha embodies all that we admire about the strength of a mother’s love. That love compels her to never give up as she works to care for Micah. Still, she found herself struggling to help her son with the newer approaches to reading and math, now taught at D.H. Stanton, and schools across the state. And she was not the only parent to struggle in this way. More and more parents in Peoplestown communicated similar challenges.

Emmaus House responded by launching Parent Power (formerly called Homework Relief Bootcamp) Through a partnership with Literacy Action, we began teaching parents how to help their children with their reading. We also taught them tools and strategies so they could help with other subjects as well.

By implementing La ‘Tasha’s new skills, Micah caught up in grade-level reading, regaining 19 months of instructional level in just 16 weeks!

*The real names of our clients have been changed to respect their privacy.

As our relationship with La ‘Tasha grew, we learned that she and Micah were about to lose their home. The owner of the apartment building they lived in had stopped taking Section 8 subsidies.

That’s when our team sprang into action. We found another property in the final phases of construction that would keep La ‘Tasha and Micah in safe, affordable housing.

However, in an all-too-common turn of events, the developer halted construction just days before La ‘Tasha and Micah were to move in.

Upon learning the news, Adam, our director of social services, went directly to the developer's office where he refused to leave until they resolved the situation. And under threat of arrest, Adam’s advocacy went all the way to the owner of the company in Nashville.

Within days, the developer completed the unit, and La ‘Tasha and Micah had a beautiful new home.

If Micah had simply attended the CDF Freedom Schools program for six weeks one summer and gone home, he and his mother could have ended up homeless. But because of our deep commitment to embracing the whole family, we met La ‘Tasha.

A two-generation approach allowed us to harness the power of community, education, hope and love so that La ‘Tasha and Micah can work toward a better life for themselves. Now, this remarkable family is stronger and more stable than ever.

EMMAUS HOUSE PROGRAMS

PEOPLESTOWN FAMILY INITIATIVE

The primary goal of the Peoplestown Family Initiative is to help clients increase their income levels, to teach financial management skills, to address health related issues and promote healthy living, and to secure or improve proper housing. Clients work with a case manager to create a customized service plan.

CHILDRENS DEFENSE FUND FREEDOM SCHOOLS®

Our CDF Freedom Schools program aims to shape children’s futures by developing strong, literate, and empowered children through six weeks of summer reading enrichment for children who might otherwise not have access to books or the environmental structure necessary to do summer reading.

PARENT POWER Formerly Homework Relief Bootcamp

Parent Power is an eight-week program designed to increase the literacy skills of parents and their children. Working in partnership with Literacy Action, we teach parents specific skills an strategies for helping their children with homework and reading.

SATURDAY STE(A)M New in 2016

In partnership with Community Guilds, Inc., our redesigned Saturday program features the award-winning STE(A)M truck and uses project-based learning to incorporate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) along with our existing arts program.

YOUTH ON THE MOVE New to Emmaus House in 2016

Youth on the Move strives to provide middle and high school students with opportunities that will prepare them for success as adults through enrichment, education, empowering experiences, and peer support.

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Community Involvement, ProgramsGuest UserFebruary 10, 2017

Stand With Us For Justice and Equity

For 50 years, Emmaus House has stood with the residents of Peoplestown in their quest to build better lives for themselves and their children. From our early days during the Civil Rights Movement to the uncertainty of today, we have loved and learned, prayed and mobilized, and laughed and cried with the incredibly resilient people of this historic neighborhood.

As we look forward to the next 50 years, we are clearer than ever about the work before us.

At Emmaus House, we stand for justice and equity. Justice and equity rooted in faith and a deep respect for the dignity of every human being.

At Emmaus House, we harness the power of community, education, hope and love to dismantle poverty, racism, and other barriers to opportunity in the lives and communities we serve.

In neighborhoods like Peoplestown, we see too many displaced families, shuttered local businesses, and kids kept indoors for fear of violence. We watch our neighbors confront challenges like limited access to affordable housing and underfunded schools. We see the barriers that limit the opportunities that many of us take for granted. And we recognize that our work is as necessary and important now as it was when Fr. Ford moved to Peoplestown in 1967.

In response to these threats, Emmaus House offers academic and social enrichment programs during the week, on Saturdays, and during the summer for children and youth.

But, we know that supporting children is only half of the solution.

We can best serve families through a two-generation approach. One that addresses the needs of the entire family — children and parents together — so that they can experience academic achievement and sustained economic success.

I hope you’ll read the story of La ‘Tasha, and her son Micah, below — an example of our two-generation approach in action.

Through your generous support, we can help remove those barriers to opportunity that so many families on the south side of Atlanta face. Thank you for continuing to walk this journey with us at Emmaus House and in Peoplestown.

Joseph Mole

Executive Director

Emmaus House

Donate

WHEN WE FIRST MET MICAH* at our Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® program in the summer of 2015, he was a rising fourth grader at D.H. Stanton Elementary School. Micah was hard to miss. He had a way of lighting up a room with just his smile. His intellectual curiosity inspired the tutors who worked with him.

But at home, Micah experienced some serious challenges. His mother, La ‘Tasha, was suffering from significant health challenges that threatened them with homelessness.

One weeknight in July, Micah’s mom attended one of our weekly meetings for parents of Freedom Schools scholars. There, La ‘Tasha learned about the other services available at Emmaus House. And when our team realized the crisis La ‘Tasha and Micah faced, we invited them to become one of the first families to enroll in our Peoplestown Family Initiative (PFI). PFI is a new case management program that seeks to help families to overcome the barriers that often lead to poverty.

La ‘Tasha embodies all that we admire about the strength of a mother’s love. That love compels her to never give up as she works to care for Micah. Still, she found herself struggling to help her son with the newer approaches to reading and math, now taught at D.H. Stanton, and schools across the state. And she was not the only parent to struggle in this way. More and more parents in Peoplestown communicated similar challenges.

Emmaus House responded by launching Parent Power! (formerly called Homework Relief Bootcamp) Through a partnership with Literacy Action, we began teaching parents how to help their children with their reading. We also taught them tools and strategies so they could help with other subjects as well.