Shelter kitchen opens in Atlanta

The beds are warm in the homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine Streets, but dinner often is another matter.

The midtown Atlanta shelter -- among the state's largest -- has lacked a kitchen or even a microwave oven to cook meals. Instead, it depends on local churches to prepare, store and transport enough food to feed the nearly 1,000 people it serves daily.

The shelter on Friday dedicated "Feast," a kitchen and dining room that will enable shelter volunteers to prepare food on site and serve it in a family style environment.

The kitchen also will serve as a training ground for homeless volunteers looking for a new vocation.

Food will come from local food banks. Anita Beaty, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, which runs the shelter, said a rooftop garden eventually will provide
fresh herbs for hearty meals.

Click here for more GPB News coverage about the homeless.

(AP)