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Bagel Rescue is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that connects bagel shops and bakeries with excess food to shelters, food pantries and other agencies, using volunteers to deliver it.

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Erin Stieglitz

Jessica Zalzman

Amy Lee

We hope you'll consider supporting Bagel Rescue this giving season. There’s a myth that if a nonprofit is scrappy enough, it can run entirely on good intentions and zero overhead. The truth? Delivering free resources still has fixed costs. No matter how carefully we squeeze our budget, impact has expenses. We spend wisely on ways to maximize our ability to support neighbors in need. That includes investments in volunteer route management, technology, food-safe storage, educational materials, nonprofit compliance practices, and a professional team that keeps our program running smoothly. We've got lean operating down to a science, but we need your help to cover the baseline. Your gift during this thankful time of year ensures our core mechanics stay funded so our volunteer network and dedicated staff can do what they do best. You can find more information and donate to the cause at bagelrescue.com/donate.

“How Doers Get More Done” was truly the vibe on Wednesday morning’s activation with the Online Merchandising team from @homedepot. The music was pumping and the energy was palpable as they made snack packs with bagels and other treats. The packs left Home Depot headquarters immediately and went directly to Bagel Rescue partners around the city including @cisatlanta , @healthyyouthusa, @feedinggafamilies, @churchofthecommonground, @crossroadsatlanta, and Banneker High School. A huge thank you to everyone who stepped away from their meetings to make a meaningful difference for our community! 🫶

Learning to advocate for causes you believe in is critical for young leaders. That was the topic of @cccprojects recent session where our Chief Rescue Office spoke about advocacy for addressing issues of food waste, food insecurity, and food justice. In addition to learning the history and community problems Bagel Rescue solves, these budding philanthropists got to suggest their own bagel flavors and advocate for why theirs was the best. Fried Chicken Bagel was the winner! 🥯

@teamaprio IMPACT week is in full swing and bagel bagging was one of several in-office projects on Monday. Every year employees spend the week working with local nonprofits in support of bettering the community. We love being part of Aprio's long history of philanthropy. It was great to see repeat faces and bring new do-gooders into our mission. Thank you, Aprio! 💛

Bagel Rescue is hiring an Operations Coordinator to expand our team. This is a part-time, hands-on, Atlanta-based role for someone who enjoys variety, problem-solving, and working with people. 👉Are you someone who would thrive in this role? Or do you know someone who would? Check out the full job description at: https://tinyurl.com/bagelrescueoperations and share with anyone you know who might be a good fit.

The scariest thing we can think of? Good food going to waste. That's why at Bagel Rescue we pick up unsold bagels and baked goods each and every day. Our volunteers deliver them to a variety of hunger relief agencies like shelters, food pantries, youth programs and more. Don't let good food become a ghost story. 👻 Join our team of rescue warriors today at bagelrescue.com/get-involved or find the link in our bio.

It doesn't get much better than spending a beautiful fall day doing mitzvot with friends. That's what the 6th graders at @congregationgesherltorah did last Sunday when they packaged bagels for community partners. As these ardent Binai Mitzvah students embark on big commitments, they learned the values of supporting the environment, caring for others, and making the world more just for all through discussion and hands-on action. 🙌 Chai fives to this group for a job well done. Thanks to @jewishatl for powering our Tikkun Olam programming. 💙

Thanks to the @cobbemc Foundation for being such a steadfast supporter of Bagel Rescue over the years! Their continued support fuels our mission to rescue surplus bagels and deliver them directly to hunger relief agencies in Cobb County and beyond. Through the Operation Round Up initiative, Cobb EMC members round up their monthly electric bills to the nearest dollar. While each individual gift may be modest, together they form a powerful fund that creates a lasting impact in the community. This video, featuring Bagel Rescue, was created by the Foundation to showcase the power of those collective contributions. Thank you to the Cobb EMC Foundation and to every member who chose to round up this year. YOU are helping us feed neighbors in need!

It’s always a great time with the staff and attorneys at @burrforman Atlanta office! The firm has long been an advocate for hunger relief, showing up for our community through both financial support and hands-on action. This past Tuesday, the team continued to deliver by packaging over 3,600 bagels into family packs. This crucial step can make a big difference for our partner agencies, who often don't have the capacity to package food themselves. A huge thank you to everyone who took a break from their busy workday to invest their time and energy into their team and their community! 🫶

What a privilege it was for the Bagel Rescue Board of Directors and Professional Team to volunteer at the @communityassistancecenter, one of our incredible partner organizations! Their mission is to provide basic needs assistance to prevent homelessness and hunger, while promoting self-sufficiency and empowering neighbors to thrive. Seeing their staff and volunteers work seamlessly side by side made it instantly clear just how special this place is. Not only did we love lending a hand, but sharing the experience as part of the Bagel Rescue team was a highlight. One of our strategic goals is for our leadership to serve directly with our partners to better understand their daily operations and deepen our community bonds. It was wonderful to further that mission together. 💙

Our work connects us with other incredible hunger relief organizations across Metro Atlanta like @thezadieproject founded by the compassionate leaders of @souperjennyatl. This nonprofit provides wholesome soup to schools, food pantries, and food insecurity outreach programs. 🍲 For the third year, our Chief Rescue Officer supported The Zadie Project by joining the 12-mile "Roswell to Chamblee" leg of the Souper Walk, a mega walk between all of the Atlanta-area Souper Jenny locations. It is a pleasure walking alongside Bagel Rescue buddy Souper Keith and so many hunger relief warriors! 🫶

Geetha is one of our kind-hearted, dedicated volunteers who drives NOT ONE BUT TWO routes every week. We love seeing her smiling face and knowing the care she puts into feeding the community through food rescue. 🫶🥯💙

What a fantastic group of teens we had the pleasure of working with from dhsspanishnhs! This hardworking crew rolled up their sleeves and immediately got to work, unloading two full carloads of bagels and packaging over 3,200 bagels into family packs. These packs are heading out to several community partners today, including @soldiersangelsofficial. Thank you to all the students who came out to make a difference! And a special thanks to @juliet.utreras, a Bagel Rescue teen board member, for planning the event and for her advocacy. 🫶

Learn how you can get involved at bagelrescue.com/get-involved or visit the link in our bio.

For the third year in a row, Bagel Rescue partnered with @bethtikvahga for their annual Mitzvah Day. Members of all ages gloved up for bagel-packing and sandwich-making, yielding 430 packs of bagels and 385 sandwiches for neighbors across metro Atlanta. Generations of families and dear friends worked hard to serve the community and pass along the value of mitzvot.💙 Thanks to our Board Member @dfaupel and her gaggle of friends who helped support the event, and @jewishatl for powering our Tikkun Olam programming! 🫶

What started in New York has found its delicious way to Atlanta! Welcome to our newest donor partner, @nysbestbagel! With locations in Marietta and Sandy Springs, they prioritize freshness in every single bite. Now, they are making sure that all that hard work (in the form of any unsold bagels) fills bellies instead of landfills by joining our team of bakery donors. 🫶 Save yourself a flight to New York and drop in for a bite! ✈️🥯

We had a blast connecting with festival-goers at #TasteofChamblee last weekend organized by @chamblee.ga. And we loved seeing partners including @chambleefirst and the @elaineclarkcenteratl. Huge thanks to volunteers Chris, Abbe (@fun_and_yum), and Lee for being incredible advocates and helping us share the Bagel Rescue mission. It was great to see our volunteers Jason and Alice at the event too. We can’t wait to welcome new volunteers like them to the Bagel Rescue family. If we missed you at the festival, it’s not too late to join our team! Find the perfect way to get involved at bagelrescue.com/get-involved or visit the link in our bio.

We have THE BEST Community Engagement and Marketing Manager! 🥯💙 Amy organizes our service projects, supports our Teen Board, and creates all of our marketing assets. She engages our community by bringing our mission to life through every post, project, and partnership. The best part is, Amy puts her heart into making Bagel Rescue better every day. We’re celebrating TWO YEARS of Amy being on a roll! 🎉 Thank you, Amy, for all the energy, creativity, and care you bring to our team.

Love. Share. Serve. Repeat. This is the motto of our partner, @grace_klein_community, which we wholeheartedly support. We are thrilled to have expanded our rescue efforts into Alabama to assist their vital work feeding those in need. Thank you, Grace Klein Community, for your partnership and your incredible impact. If you live in the Birmingham area and wish to become a food rescue hero, please contact us at volunteer@bagelrescue.com. 🫶

Clad in their iconic orange aprons and shirts, @homedepot employees rolled up their sleeves to tackle food insecurity right in our community during a Team Impact Event on Wednesday. Team members packaged family-sized bagel packs to go directly to local agencies. These pre-packaged meals are a lifesaver for our partner agencies that don't always have the resources to package themselves! They also prepped hearty sandwiches that were delivered straight to the Atlanta Union Mission supporting our unhoused neighbors. Thanks to each volunteer who helped hammer out hunger! 🔨🧡 And a special thanks to Latha for organizing the entire event. She's not only a Bagel Rescue volunteer but an advocate and Board member too. 🫶

The culinary class at @tri_citieshigh not only learns practical skills for kitchen operations, meal creation, and safety & sanitation, they also support the bi-monthly Bulldog Bodega food distribution. We are excited to partner to provide bagels 🥯 for the community giveaway, and look forward to more bagel integrations in the future.

A huge shout-out and heartfelt thank you to @allmysonsmoving (Atlanta)! 🚚🥯 Back in September, their incredible team stepped up to help us move A LOT of bagels and sandwiches after several of our larger workshops. Moving that much food is no small feat, but they went above and beyond—taking absolute care of every item and doing it all with genuine smiles. We truly loved getting to know their drivers along the way! What makes this even more special is how this partnership started. The team at All My Sons contacted Bagel Rescue to ask how they could get their team involved in our local food rescue. As a national partner of Move For Hunger, All My Sons already transports surplus non-perishable food, and we are so thrilled they connected with us to make a hyper-local impact here in Atlanta. We are incredibly grateful for the hard work and partnership. Together we are feeding the community and reducing waste, one bagel at a time! 🤝❤️

Way to go Girl Scouts! 💚 We were thrilled when the leaders of a local troop of 6th grade Girl Scouts reached out asking how they could get involved. They came at the perfect time! Together, these young do-gooders packaged thousands of bagels into family packs for our partner agencies. It is one thing to talk about hunger relief, but by actively rolling up their sleeves to help us, these girls gained an understanding of the dedication, teamwork, and resources required to feed our community. They are a shining example of youth leadership in action. 🫶

Looking for a healthier lunch option this weekend? Try a Mediterranean Bagel! This recipe is simple and easy to tweak with whatever vegetables you have on hand.

Meet William, a Bagel Rescue volunteer extraordinaire! 💙 William doesn't just manage his regular weekly rescue route (which includes multiple stops) 🚗, he goes above and beyond. Every time we reach out for extra hands at our workshops, William is there to help when he can. Even better? By tapping into his personal network, William connected us to a brand-new funding resource! Dedicated volunteers like William are the reason we can sustain our mission day after day. A huge thank you to William, and to all the hunger relief heroes doing what they can to support our community! 🙏

Collaboration in the nonprofit world is about more than just logistics—it’s about taking the intentional time to work side-by-side, understand each other's processes, and build real friendships. ✨ Last Monday, our team at Bagel Rescue arrived early to help prepare for @hugsandhopega weekly food distribution. Stepping into their space and process allowed us to truly connect and see the incredible dedication behind their mission. We had the pleasure of serving 40–50 neighbors in need with hot coffee and fresh pastries 🥐 (thanks to our amazing donors!), along with groceries (including packaged bagels 🥯) and hearty sandwiches made with rescued bread. 🍞 While these partnerships are vital for providing resources to our community, the authentic friendships built and the shared joy of serving together are the ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT of our everyday work. 💙

It was wonderful seeing old friends and meeting new ones at yesterday's Team Impact Event at @workday! This incredible team packaged over 4,800 bagels, creating hundreds of family-sized packs for local families in need. We know how hard it is to step away from your desk and to-do list, so we deeply appreciate everyone who took the time to connect as a community, for their community. 🫶

HUGE THANK YOU to the @ymslnorthatlanta! 💙 We are incredibly grateful that these amazing young men and their mothers chose Bagel Rescue for their annual Ultimate Gift project! 🎁 For those who don't know, the Young Men's Service League (YMSL) is a national non-profit where high school boys and their mothers volunteer together to serve their communities. Their "Ultimate Gift" is a major, chapter-wide initiative dedicated to making a big and tangible impact for a local charity. And WOW, did they deliver for us! The North Atlanta chapter took on an enormous task: • 🎁 Packaged small gifts with care. • 🚗 Hand-delivered them to over 70+ of our food donors across the metro Atlanta area. • 🗣️ Acted as official Bagel Rescue ambassadors, sharing our mission and personally thanking each and every partner for their support! As a small (but mighty) non-profit, we could not have pulled off this massive appreciation effort on our own. This critical work strengthens our relationships with the local businesses that make our food rescue possible. Thank you, YMSL North Atlanta, for being our extra hands and voices. You are true Hunger Relief Warriors! 🫶

"People in Action" accurately represents the amazing members of the @rotarydunwoody who packaged 4,600 bagels on Saturday morning. It was a pleasure getting to know these Rotarians who believe in the power of local community service. Thanks to our friend Rick for gathering the group and fueling them with pre-project coffee & bagels (of course!). 🥯☕

This just in: As part of our Bagel Bash celebration, we were able to share thousands of packaged bagels with 35+ (more than expected!) amazing Partner Agencies — organizations that work tirelessly every day to provide food, care, and critical resources to those in need. These Partners are on the front lines of compassion, ensuring no one in our community goes hungry — even as so many families face greater challenges with interruption of SNAP benefits and rising food insecurity. We’re deeply grateful for everything they do. 💪❤️ ARC: A Place for Families @acfb - Atlanta Community Food Bank Community Food Center Jonesboro - Atlanta Community Food Bank Community Food Center Marietta - Atlanta Community Food Bank Community Food Center MLK - Atlanta Community Food Bank Community Food Center Stone Mountain @apsupdate Ben Hill UMC CJ Hicks Elementary School DEAM Feed Marietta @feedinggafamilies Fountain of Hope Frederick Douglass High School Frontline Response Georgia Food & Resource Center Hightower Baptist Holy Cross Catholic Church Hope Family Resources Hope Lodge Hunter Hill Baptist Church iCare Atlanta Jewish Family & Career Services Malachi Storehouse @mealsbygraceorg Neighborhoods Cooperative Ministries Networks Cooperative Ministries Project Access Ser Familia Sheltering Arms Chamblee St. Mark’s AME Church St. Patrick’s Catholic Church Status Home Sweetwater Mission The Pantry at Hamilton Mill UMC @tocohillsalliance Urban Recipe

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