Our Impact in the Community

As COVID has disrupted our community, Catalyst Coalition is committed to providing a sense of normalcy to food insecure families. As Catalyst Coalition saw more and more ethnically diverse families struggling to put food on the table, they had a vision to create ethnic-centric food pantries to better meet our community’s food needs. Distributing specific “comfort foods” catering to their cultural palate offers a whole new level of support and encouragement to our families.

Alongside their dedicated partners (Duluth Middle School, Atlanta Food Bank, Helping Mamas, Student Leadership of Johns Creek, and the Senior First Center), Catalyst Coalition impacted 744 families at their meal distributions on February 15^th. Their pantry team dispersed traditional Vietnamese, Asian, Latino, African American and other dishes. Catalyst Coalition’s new twist to our traditional food pantry model is gaining great momentum and Gwinnett Cares’ food response team is excited to help expand their reach and impact moving forward. To learn more about the work of Catalyst Coalition, click here.

With COVID-19 ransacking the world, Corners Outreach saw a need for masks, as well as the need for employment in the community. In June 2020, this nonprofit organization launched “More Than A Mask,” which has employed an average of 15 to 20 women. The women have made and sold more than 5,000 masks to the community through their website, as well as an additional 3,500 masks via a partnership with Wesleyan School and Greater Atlanta Christian School.

“More Than A Mask” is an amazing employment opportunity for women to invest in their children by working from home, while also earning much-needed income to help support their families. Corners Outreach provides any training needed, as well as sewing machines and material. The seamstresses feel great purpose in helping care for their families as well as providing our community with critical protection from COVID-19.

If you are interested in supporting the women and the families of “More Than A Mask” while helping curtail the spread of COVID-19, you can purchase their reusable cloth masks for only $7.00 at https://cornersoutreach.org/morethanamask. Special pricing is available for those that want to buy in bulk.

Gwinnett’s Medical Reserve Corps (MRC-GEM) is a volunteer, non-profit organization that has helped our community immensely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March, MRC-GEM has contributed over 2,200 volunteer hours to support our local health department efforts and has recruited close to 300 new recruits. Volunteers range from as young as 18 years old to over 80! Only about 1/3 of the volunteers have a health science or medical background. The other ⅔ come from varying professional backgrounds that support the full scope of the corps work.

Credentialed healthcare workers take on direct care roles helping with testing procedures, vaccinations, medical guidance on next-steps, mental health support, and more. Non-medical volunteers assist with tasks such as volunteer recruitment and coordination, administrative tasks, operational and logistics support, contact tracing, remote testing site set-up and take-down, etc. Students in the community love working with MRC-GEM because they get valuable CPR and emergency response training, as well as receive hands-on medical experience as they pursue careers in health science.

If you want to learn more about how to get involved with MRC-GEM, visit their website today!

HomeFirst Gwinnett gives the homeless people of Gwinnett County the biggest gift of all: opportunity. By giving these individuals fundamental choices and options to rebuild, HomeFirst Gwinnett helps open their eyes to see that they can break the bonds of homelessness and live their lives again. HomeFirst Gwinnett offers options, empowerment, confidence, and hope.

There are approximately 10,000 individuals in Gwinnett county who are living in some state of  homelessness: whether they’re sleeping in encampments, parking lots, or living transiently in extended stay motels. As the pandemic rages, Gwinnett’s homeless population continues to grow. HomeFirst is on the front lines addressing their real-time needs with other Gwinnett Cares partners.

A recent partnership with Hope Thru Soap and Do Something Incredible enabled a coat and clothing giveaway event, the making of over 600+ blessing bags, and the recruitment of volunteers for Gwinnett warming stations and the Point in Time Count coming up in January. This is collaboration at its best. This is what Gwinnett Cares is all about!