Atlanta Community Food Bank
Where it began — turning industry connections into meals for metro Atlanta families facing food insecurity.
We’re the people behind the counter. Thousands of convenience store owners, operators, and vendor partners who decided that the community we serve every day deserves more than a friendly hello.
HRA got its start in late 2012, built by hands that worked hard for everything it became. A few years in, the three of us (Nirav Shah, Amit Patel, and Chirag Patel) started going to charity golf outings and fundraising events. There, we met the people running these charities and the families they were helping, and we felt the heart behind everything they did.
It touched us deeply, and it planted a seed in us to do the same for others.
Then it became personal. During one of the hardest times our own families ever faced, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta wrapped us in more kindness and comfort than we ever thought possible. Around that same time, working alongside the Atlanta Community Food Bank opened our eyes to families quietly going through hard times of their own.
We saw, up close, how much one helping hand can change someone’s whole world.
Those moments stayed with us, and in 2016, they led us to start the HRA Foundation. We began with a charity golf tournament to support CHOA: Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Atlanta Community Food Bank, our way of saying thank you, and of passing along the same kindness that once carried us through. To this day, we believe giving back to the community that supports our business isn’t just something nice to do, it’s something that lives in us.
When life gives you a chance to help someone, you must take it.
That belief has only grown warmer and stronger with every year. We’ve gone on to support groups like the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Wounded Warrior Project, and we’ve stood beside CURE Childhood Cancer for many years and counting. Closer to home, we started a scholarship program to take care of the families within our own HRA community.
For us, making a difference always starts close to home.
What began with the three of us has grown far beyond us. Today, more than 50 team members carry this mission forward, standing alongside 40+ vendor partners who believe in the same cause and support us in making it happen.
Our story belongs to all of them now, too — and that’s exactly how we hoped it would grow.
Whether you volunteer, sponsor, or simply show up, every hand makes the next chapter possible.
One industry, one cause at a time. Keep scrolling — the years advance with you.
Where it began — turning industry connections into meals for metro Atlanta families facing food insecurity.
“Tee It Up For Kids” put the industry on the course for pediatric care at one of the nation’s leading children’s hospitals.
Members teed off in support of research toward earlier detection and better treatment — funding science that reaches patients faster.
A tournament built around service. Sponsors, members, and vendor partners came together to back veterans and their families as they recover and rebuild.
The cause our community keeps returning to. Our partnership began in 2021 (we paused fundraising events in 2020 due to COVID) and has continued every year since — funding research and family support for children fighting cancer.
Our newest partnership and the cause we’re building our future events around. Camp Twin Lakes gives kids facing serious illness, disability, and life challenges a place to feel understood, try new things, and see themselves in a whole new way.
Scroll to travel through the years
Stay connected and be the first to
know how you can make an impact.
Get updates on relief efforts, volunteer opportunities, and community stories—
delivered straight to your inbox.
