Atlanta Mission Interview (With Rachel Solid PR communications manager)
Q: Can you talk to me about the individuals you serve and how they come to your organization? A: We serve 1,000 people across our campuses every day, who have 1,000 different reasons why they come. Many people move to Atlanta in hopes of a better life when they are homelessness due to Atlanta's great charities and they come to Atlanta Mission. At Atlanta Mission we do intake everyday. That is where the homeless people will come and get a bed for the night, take a shower, get food, and get clothes. This is where lots of homeless people might decide to be in our program. There are actually two different sides to Atlanta Mission, the shelter side and the program side. In the shelter side, residents are allowed to stay during the night for up to a year. In the program side, participants live at Atlanta Mission full time and receive in depth financial training, job help, and various other classes to help them become independent. Q: What has been the biggest challenge and what is your charity most in need of? A: Money for sure. We do not take any government funding, which we do for a couple different reasons. One reason is that it is not very much money to be honest. Two is that they put stipulations on what you can and cannot do. For example if we accepted money from the government we would not be able to have Christ in our organization (we do allow anyone from any religion to be served). Another thing that we are always in need of are essential items. The biggest thing is actually underwear. We do not want to give these people used underwear! We are trying to give them their dignity back so used underwear would not help. Also we are in need of diapers for the children, formula, other things like that, and of course, volunteers. Q: How can kids help? A: Kids can help by what you are doing right now. Kids can volunteer in childcare, in the kitchen, organizing things, and so on and so forth.