Georgia food pantry sees growing need amid high costs

A metro Atlanta nonprofit says the amount of people relying on food pantries remains high along with grocery prices.

Reflections of Trinity in Hiram served just under 3 million pounds of food in 2025 to people in 77 Georgia counties and some outside of Georgia.

Founder Laurie Ann Wong-Burns told CBS News Atlanta that during the coronavirus pandemic, they were serving around 1,000 families per week. Now, they are serving 1,300 families per week and that number has steadily increased since 2022.

Wong-Burns attributed the rise to other financial strains on families.

“Housing has gone up, so has fuel, so it’s like a trifecta, and a lot of times people’s wages haven’t gone up, so that’s where food pantries come in,” Wong-Burns said.

Feeding America reports that more than 1.2 million people in Georgia experienced food insecurity in 2019, and although the numbers improved in 2020 and 2021, by 2023, they had grown to 1.6 million people.

The nonprofit Reflections of Trinity relies heavily on partnerships and volunteers. They have around 200 to 250 volunteers each week.

If you are interested in donating or volunteering, go to reflectionsoftrinity.org.