Photograph by Marcus Kyle
What started as a scrappy volunteer effort in 2009 to share foraged apples with vulnerable families has matured into a statewide nonprofit. Concrete Jungle rescues and distributes 1 million pounds of fruits and vegetables [4 million servings] annually to meet the increased demand. To date, the nonprofit has moved 3 million pounds of produce to local food banks and shelters.
“Across our 47 hunger relief partners, almost everyone’s seen a 50 percent to 200 percent increase in clients compared to 2024,” executive director Katherine Kennedy says. As Georgians grapple with high food, housing, and healthcare costs and unstable employment and social safety net cuts, Concrete Jungle is striving to meet the moment. “Our vision is that Georgians are well nourished in a state with no food waste,” she adds. “I’m excited to expand and set up other branches even closer to the growers.”
Photograph by Marcus Kyle
There are many milestones to commemorate from the past 16 years. One is the sense of community that the organization, which has staff in Atlanta, Athens, and Tifton, has fostered. “Community spirit was true then and now,” Kennedy says. “Last year, we had 1,300 volunteer shifts.”
Bill Stack remembers a decade ago, when Kennedy offered to send volunteer pickers to glean his apples for a food bank in a vacant Bi-Lo grocery store on Highway 441 in Clayton. The food bank serves 14 northeast Georgia counties. “It didn’t make sense to hire pickers because they’re expensive,” Stack says. Concrete Jungle volunteers now pick about 10,000 pounds of apples a year.
Adaptability and innovation are also key, as proven in 2020, a transformative year for the organization. Humanitarian agency Care USA asked Concrete Jungle to be the produce provider in a collective purchasing partnership with Atlanta Public Schools, the YMCA, Chris 180, and others during the pandemic. “Before 2020, we picked, plucked, or dug our produce by hand, ”Kennedy says. The partnership forced Concrete Jungle to rethink logistics; now it includes excess farmed produce that would otherwise be wasted. “We distributed 800,000 pounds of produce and other kitchen staples in 2020, up from 31,000 pounds of produce in 2019,” she adds.
After the Care USA collective disbanded, Concrete Jungle launched its Produce Buyer’s Club to continue purchasing surplus or cosmetically imperfect produce at a discount from 49 Georgia farmers. This club program has made Concrete Jungle a strong asset to farmers, who are under stress from rising labor and supply costs and U.S. Department of Agriculture cuts. Jeff Anthony of Pinewood Springs Farm joined the buyer’s club to sell excess tomatoes, cabbage, squash, and leeks after the USDA canceled the Southern Piedmont Climate-Smart Project. “The USDA was supposed to help with marketing and wholesale, but that dropped,” Anthony says.
Photograph by Marcus Kyle
The nonprofit distributes produce through partners, who reap the fruits of their labor every day: Networks Cooperative Ministry in Tucker sources enough produce to serve about 300 families a week at their client-choice food pantry with little waste. “The produce from local farms is so fresh,” says Stephanie Suggs, Networks program director. “They care about what our neighbors are getting.”
Concrete Jungle is hosting a Sweet 16 Celebration fundraiser on November 2 at the Goat Farm Arts Center to honor its accomplishments and support its future. It’s a time to take stock of how the organization has grown and to celebrate its impact on Georgia families. “We’ve taken our values, learnings, and close community relationships and become this highly impactful operation moving the needle on food insecurity and hopefully health equity,” Kennedy says.
This article appears in our September 2025 issue.
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Joe Reisigl
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