Food rescue nonprofit Second Helpings Atlanta selects new executive director
By Hannah E. Jones
Last month, Paul Clements stepped into his new role at the helm of Second Helpings Atlanta (SHA) as the nonprofit’s new executive director.
SHA is a nonprofit food rescue organization that collects healthy food that would otherwise go to waste and distributes it to those in need. The surplus food is collected from local grocers, restaurants and stadiums, with SHA serving as the link between food donors and partner agencies who distribute it.
Since 2004, the nonprofit has gathered and distributed 21.7 million pounds of food, providing 1.2 million meals.
Clements is no stranger to the fight against food insecurity, and was previously the senior marketing manager at Whole Foods and development director at America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend. He also sat on the organization’s board of directors.
Growing up, Clements knew that he “wanted to do good in the world,” and fighting food insecurity became his calling.
“The face of hunger is silent. It lives in every zip code, it touches every demographic of people,” Clements said. “It’s so critically important for us to keep food out of the landfills and be able to provide that food to people who need it most. We can relieve some of that stress so they can allocate those resources to other areas of their life to finally gain stability and, hopefully, financial freedom.”
Clements began working with SHA through his previous job with Whole Foods and was immediately impressed with the nonprofit’s food collection and distribution systems.
“Honestly, I just fell in love with the organization at that point,” he said. “They were so grassroots, very innovative in their approach in terms of using volunteer drivers to run routes daily, picking up food and then taking it directly to a network of partner agencies. It’s a really effective model.”
In the first few weeks in this new position, Clements is focused on connecting with local leaders in the space, strengthening partnerships and finding ways to increase the efficiency of their operations. He also wants to expand into Cobb County, implementing a block-by-block approach that will eventually serve Georgia’s third-most populous county. To help as many residents as possible, Clements emphasized the importance of working together rather than in silos.
“If any city across the country can truly [serve as] the perfect model, it’s definitely Atlanta and the Atlanta metro,” Clements said. “You have so many strong players already here and they [operate] in a collaborative effort.”
He added: “[A lack of food] is not the problem. We just need to collaborate and talk to one another.”
To learn more about the work SHA is doing around the city and metro area, click here.
