Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation, Blank Family Foundation Host Georgia Premiere of Documentary Film on Hunger in America

Atlanta Community Food Bank's Bill Bolling to Lead Discussion

ATLANTA, Feb. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Quality Care for Children, Georgia Organics and Participant Media, the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation and The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Speaker Series are hosting the Georgia premiere of a new documentary film, A Place at the Table, that examines the economic, social and cultural implications of hunger in America.

A panel discussion will follow the screening. Atlanta Community Food Bank Executive Director Bill Bolling will moderate the discussion with CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and Feeding America Senior Vice President Eric Olsen.

The event is tonight (Thursday, February 28, 2013) at Midtown Art Cinema. The event is invitation only. For more information, contact Reagan Goodnough at [email protected].

The film opens in Atlanta and around the country on Friday, March 1. Text FOOD to 77177 to join A Place at the Table's fight to end hunger in America.

"Together, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Quality Care for Children and Georgia Organics are providing emergency relief to families in need and promoting innovative solutions increase access to healthy food for millions of Georgians," said John Bare, vice president of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. "A Place at the Table shows us how hunger could be solved once and for all, and Georgia has the right people in place to make it happen."

More than 1 in 4 Georgia children – more than 700,000 young people – lack access to affordable healthy food, and the Atlanta Community Food Bank has seen demand for food increase by 85 percent in the past four years. In 2011, the Food Bank distributed more than 37 million pounds of food and grocery products to families through more than 600 partner agencies in 29 metro Atlanta and north Georgia counties.

Learn more about hunger in Georgia at the Food Bank's Facts & Stats web page, www.acfb.org/facts-stats.

About A Place at the Table:
From Participant Media and Magnolia Pictures, the companies who brought you Food, Inc., comes another astonishing documentary that exposes a serious problem that affects 1 out of 6 Americans – these could be your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers, and you would never know, because people are too ashamed to talk about it. 50 million people in the U.S. – one in four children – don't know where their next meal is coming from, despite our having the means to provide nutritious, affordable food for all Americans. Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush examine this issue through the lens of three people who are struggling with food insecurity: Barbie, a single Philadelphia mother who grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two kids; Rosie, a Colorado fifth-grader who often has to depend on friends and neighbors to feed her and has trouble concentrating in school; and Tremonica, a Mississippi second-grader whose asthma and health issues are exacerbated by the largely empty calories her hardworking mother can afford.

Their stories are interwoven with insights from experts including sociologist Janet Poppendieck, author Raj Patel and nutrition policy leader Marion Nestle; ordinary citizens like Pastor Bob Wilson and teachers Leslie Nichols and Odessa Cherry; and activists such as Witness to Hunger's Mariana Chilton, Top Chef's Tom Colicchio and Oscar®-winning actor Jeff Bridges.

About the Atlanta Community Food Bank:
The Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) began operating in 1979 from a small space at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. ACFB now distributes over 35 million pounds of food and grocery products each year from a 129,600 square-foot facility in N.W. Atlanta. The product is accessed by more than 600 partner nonprofits that provide food assistance to families and individuals in 29 counties across metro Atlanta and north Georgia.

ACFB leads seven distinct projects that reinforce its mission to fight hunger by engaging, educating and empowering our community: Atlanta Prosperity Campaign, Atlanta's Table, Community Gardens, Hunger 101, Hunger Walk/Run, Kids In Need and Product Rescue Center. ACFB is a member of Feeding America, the national network of more than 200 food banks. Learn more at http://www.acfb.org/.

About Georgia Organics:
An outgrowth of a grower's association established in the 1970s, Georgia Organics is a member-supported not-for-profit organization devoted to promoting sustainable foods and local farms in Georgia. Recognizing this vital need, Georgia Organics builds supply through comprehensive grower education and outreach programs, and it catalyzes demand on the consumer and business end by fostering market opportunities for local food. Learn more at http://georgiaorganics.org/.

About Quality Care for Children:
Quality Care for Children is the resource for parents, child care providers and community leaders in Georgia seeking information, assistance and support in securing high quality early learning experiences for infants and young children. QCC works with parents from across the state to assist them in finding child care, and QCC ensures children statewide are fed nutritious meals through the child care food program. QCC is the largest food program sponsor for family child-care homes in the southeast. Learn more at http://www.qualitycareforchildren.org/.

About Participant Media:
Participant Media (www.participantmedia.com) is an entertainment company that focuses on documentary and non-documentary feature films, television, publishing and digital content about the real issues that shape our lives. For each of its projects, Participant creates social action and advocacy programs to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Participant's online Social Action Network is TakePart (takepart.com). Founded by Jeff Skoll in 2004, Jim Berk serves as CEO. Participant's films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson's War, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck, The Visitor, Food, Inc., The Cove, The Crazies, Countdown to Zero, Waiting for "Superman," Fair Game, PAGE ONE: Inside The New York Times, The Help, Contagion, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Lincoln, Promised Land and No.

About The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Speaker Series:
By convening individuals around issues, innovations and ideas that will shape the quality of life for families in Atlanta and beyond, the Blank Family Foundation Speaker Series aspires to spur civic action and citizen involvement for positive change in people's lives. Learn more at http://blankfoundation.org/speaker-series.

About the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation:
Investing across Georgia, the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation helps nonprofit organizations reduce childhood obesity and improve youth fitness. The foundation was established in 1985 to serve as the philanthropic arm of the Atlanta Falcons. Since Arthur Blank acquired the Atlanta Falcons in 2002, the foundation has grown to be the largest owner-funded foundation in the National Football League, providing more than $18 million in grants to nonprofit organizations across the state of Georgia. Learn more at www.AFYF.org.

SOURCE The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Atlanta Falcons Youth Foundation