Atlanta Housing Delivers Holiday Gifts to Students in Need

AH's Angel Tree Campaign garners over $12,000 in toys, clothing, electronics and more for students of local school

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Dec 20, 2019, 17:27 ET

ATLANTA, Dec. 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlanta Housing (AH) today delivered holiday gifts and personal items to students of Dunbar Elementary School, an effort of the agency's annual Angel Tree Campaign. A partnership with AH, principals and teaching staff in the Atlanta Public School system, Angel Tree provides support services during the holiday season for students in need.

Angel Tree is driven by the generosity of AH staff members, who furnish essentials and fulfill wishes for students in kindergarten and grades first through fifth. So far, all three years the campaign has supported Dunbar, AH's adopted school, where well over 50 percent of the student population are AH-assisted families. "At Atlanta Housing, we really care about the people we serve," says President and CEO of Atlanta Housing Eugene Jones, Jr. "This campaign is just one of the many ways we go beyond providing affordable housing to help those in need."

This year, Dunbar counselors identified 126 children in need. As a part of the campaign, each child created a wish list provided to AH in cards containing basic identification information, such as the child's first name, grade, clothing and shoe size. From December 2 to December 16, staff members were invited to select a child from the "Dunbar Angel Tree" and purchase items from their list. Unwrapped gifts ranging from dolls to bikes, art materials to laptops, and clothing to toiletries were later transported to Dunbar for a prearranged gift wrapping session. Today in the Dunbar gymnasium, with the help of community partners from Fellaship restaurant, owned by Atlanta native and Carolina Panther quarterback Cameron Newton and his brother C.J. Newton, AH staff served breakfast and distributed over $12,000 in gifts to parents of the identified students.

"AH is about more than bricks and sticks," remarks Dr. Howard Grant, senior vice president of Governmental, External Affairs and Human Development. Grant's department sponsors Angel Tree. "We are also committed to providing and facilitating the resources that children and families need to be self-sufficient."

According to Ernest Sessoms, principal of Dunbar Elementary School, Angel Tree's impact on the students has been significant. "Words cannot express how much the students and families have appreciated the donations from Atlanta Housing," Sessoms says. "Their monetary sponsorship and volunteerism truly makes our community feel inspired and loved during the holiday season. We are grateful to AH for choosing Dunbar to spread some holiday cheer."

To date, AH has supported a total of 379 Dunbar students through Angel Tree Campaign. To inquire about future community partnerships supporting Angel Tree, email or call AH at the points of contact below.

About Atlanta Housing
Led by President and CEO Eugene Jones, Jr., the Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, Georgia (AH), is the largest housing authority in Georgia and one of the largest in the nation. AH provides and facilitates affordable housing resources for nearly 22,000 low-income households comprised of approximately 50,000 people.

These affordable housing resources include AH-owned residential communities, AH-sponsored mixed-income, mixed-finance residential communities, tenant-based vouchers, project based rental assistance, supportive housing arrangements and homeownership opportunities. AH's programs are funded and regulated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD").

Visit Atlanta Housing at http://www.atlantahousing.org or follow on Twitter at @housingatlanta.

Contact:
Karen Young, Sr. Director, Communications,
Marketing and Public Engagement
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 404-285-7440

SOURCE Atlanta Housing