Volunteers pack State Farm Arena to pack a million meals

As thousands of volunteers walked into State Farm Arena Saturday morning ready to pack meals, they did so on a red carpet with spotlights flashing and music blaring.   

Atlanta Hawks’ VP of corporate social responsibility Andrea Carter says it was a way to say thank you for those who gave up part of their Saturday to help.

“You can imagine what time it took for people to get up, get down here, get in line and be ready to start packing at 8 o’clock, so it’s a big commitment,” said Carter. “But that’s who we are in the city of Atlanta: we are committed to doing great work.”

Saturday marked the second year the Hawks held the Million Meal Pack event at the arena. The event drew some 5,000 volunteers. The team partners with non-profit organizations including U.S. Hunger to distribute the meals to those in need. Volunteers worked 90-minute shifts, assembling meal boxes filled with a non-perishable Jambalaya mix.

Among those who showed up early was Casey Baker, a realtor. She joined several members of her gym who volunteered Saturday.

“Atlanta is a special place. If you look around, this is really the city where people take care of each other,” she said.

Steve Koonin, the CEO of the Hawks and State Farm Arena called the Million Meal Pack one of his favorite days of the year at the arena.

“We have church groups, we have offices, we have other companies, we have individuals who just want to do this, so it really brings a mix of Atlanta into the building,” said Koonin.

Recipients of the meals include Atlanta Community Food Bank, City of Refuge, Fountain of Hope, Georgia State University, Goodr, Meals on Wheels Atlanta, Mimi’s Pantry and Second Helpings Atlanta.

Donning a red Million Meal Pack t-shirt, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens helped pack a few meals alongside former Atlanta Hawk and NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo.

Dickens says volunteer events like this and others can help fight food insecurity in Atlanta.

“We have so many things that we do each and every week, volunteer opportunities are out there including Hands on Atlanta and various other organizations, so if you couldn’t make it today, there’s always opportunity for you to serve,” said Dickens.

Dan Krause, Senior VP at State Farm says the company wants to give back to Atlanta, a community that thousands of its employees call home.

“We’ve got such a large presence of our folks in the community and that’s far more important to us than our name on a building,” said Krause. “It’s really about how do we work together to make an impact in the community, and these types of events really speak to that.”