April 16th marked the first day of the 7th Annual Georgia Legal Food Frenzy, a two-week food and fund drive led by Georgia’s legal community. The 2018 competition is presented by the Office of the Attorney General and the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia to benefit the Georgia Food Bank Association.

“One in four children in Georgia are food insecure,” said Attorney General Chris Carr. “Over 60 percent of those children are eligible for free or reduced lunches during the school year, but when they are home for the summer, their families often struggle to put enough food on the table. The Legal Food Frenzy is timed to help Georgia’s regional food banks fulfill an increased demand during the summer, and we are grateful to Georgia’s legal community for coming together to help us meet this need.”

From April 16 - 27, over 200 law firms and legal organizations—representing more than 15,000 members of the legal community—will go head-to-head, seeing who can raise the most food and funds for their regional food bank. For every dollar raised, teams will earn four points, and for every pound of food raised, they will earn one point.

“On behalf of Georgia’s Food Banks, I want to thank the Office of the Attorney General, the State Bar of Georgia, the Young Lawyers Division and the legal community for continuing lead these critical efforts to stock the food banks over the summer,” said Danah Craft, Executive Director of the Georgia Food Bank Association. “We cannot wait to see who will be the Attorney General’s Cup and Bar President’s award winners this year, but the true winners are the families and children served by the food banks. The legal community is making a real impact on their lives.”  

Last year’s competition raised a record $329,000 and 19,000 pounds for Georgia’s food banks. With each dollar donated, the food banks can distribute on average nine dollars’ worth of groceries into the community, because they can leverage bulk purchasing, donor relationships and volunteers. Last year, Jenkins & Roberts, LLC wont the Attorney General’s Cup with the most raised per employee and Coleman Talley LLP wont the Bar President’s Award for raising the most overall. The winners of this year’s competition will be recognized during the State Bar of Georgia Annual Meeting on June 8.