Grady College participates in summer food drive benefiting Food Bank of NEGA

The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and Hub Magazine’s Food Technology feature, Bytes, have announced that the 2nd Annual Bytes for Bites competition raised $67,773 and 4,352 pounds of food for the Georgia Food Bank Association, surpassing their goal of $50,000. This is the equivalent of 275,158 meals that Georgia’s Food Banks will be able to distribute to the families and children they serve across the state.

Over 40 technology companies and IT departments representing more than 3,000 members of the industry went head – to – head to see who could raise the most food and funds from June 12 – 23. Although the competition is statewide, the food and funds each technology firm raised stayed local and benefitted the regional Food Bank that serves their community. For the purpose of the competition, every $1 raised is 4 points and every 1 pound of food raised is 1 point.

UGA Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication came out on top locally and statewide in the competition. They raised $1,086 and 60 pounds of food for the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia. With 5,755 points and 384 points per employee Grady College earned the TAG Athens award and the Small Company Total Points award, beating out all of the other small companies statewide.

Over 1 in 4 children in Georgia are food insecure, meaning they may not know where their next meal is coming from, and more than 60% of Georgia’s kids rely on free and reduced meals at school. When these same children are home during the summer months without this resource, their families often struggle to put enough food on the table. Bytes for Bites is timed to help the Food Banks meet this increased demand for food assistance during the summer.