Popular restaurants band together to feed the homeless

ATLANTA — Every day, thousands of local homeless men, women and children get food never sold at local restaurants.

Thursday, Channel 2's John Bachman got a look at how unused meat, potatoes and vegetables make it to those who need it.

The 7 Bridges to Recovery ministry in Cobb County goes to overpasses and other places to deliver food to the metro Atlanta homeless.

The ministry also houses 100 women and children, and 25 men. They all get three meals a day. So each day the charity needs food for 1,000 meals.

Melissa Erhardt, who helps run the ministry, said, "We have zero funding. So, we don't know where food comes from, we don't know how we pay the bills."

Each day 7 Bridges to Recovery gets food from local restaurants. Thursday, it was steak, potatoes and even lobster.

"It's vital for us," Erhardt says.

Local restaurants like Longhorn Steakhouse are keeping food on the tables of local ministries.

"Over 10 years we've donated more than 30,000 pounds of food," said Lisa Hoggs.

Hoggs runs the Longhorn restaurant on Cobb Parkway at Akers Mill, but it’s not just Longhorn.

The group that owns Longhorn also owns dozens of restaurants throughout metro Atlanta.

So far this year, the group has donated 190,000 pounds of food to different local agencies.

Hoggs says, "I love the fact that we're helping a lot of people out."

They're not alone. Several local restaurants do something similar--providing for ministries that feed the hungry in our neighborhoods.

"We shouldn't have people starving when we have an abundance of food. So instead of throwing it away, we'll take it," Erhardt says.

Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, The Cheesecake Factory and Red Lobster all donate food to 7 Bridges to Recovery. So do stores like Costco.

WSBTV