More than 5,000 volunteers joined the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm at State Farm Arena on Saturday, Sept. 26, for the sixth Million Meal Pack. The event aimed to assemble one million meals for metro Atlanta in a single day. The Hawks’ post-event release reported a final total of 1,002,402, exceeding the goal by 2,402 meals. Atlanta News First independently reported that volunteers reached the million-meal goal.
The Hawks said volunteers packed 167,067 meal bags, alongside 128,778.5 pounds of food in 3,480.5 boxes. Its release described 288 meals per box and 48 bags per box. At the reported total, the figures work out to six meals per bag. The team’s event guide says the bags held Red Lentil Jambalaya made with red lentils, long-grain white rice, dehydrated vegetables and pink Himalayan salt. Organizers scheduled five 90-minute shifts and expected about 1,000 volunteers in each. These counts describe packing output, not confirmed household deliveries.
Before the event, organizers asked volunteers to arrive 15 to 30 minutes early for training, wear closed-toed shoes, and use the provided hairnets and gloves during packing. The Hawks’ volunteer page described the event as free and open to the public, with accessible options and registration for children as young as five. Individuals and families had a sign-up route separate from organizations. Games, refreshments and music were planned on State Farm Drive after each shift. Those details were plans published before the gathering; reports do not say how many children attended.
The effort brought together people from across Atlanta. Hawks players Kingston Flemings, Asa Newell, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Wilson joined team and State Farm executives. U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams and Atlanta City Council members attended, as did Hawks Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins. Atlanta News First independently confirmed that Williams and Flemings volunteered and described the event as drawing about 5,000 people to the arena. Williams described the activity to the station as direct service, while Flemings said working alongside the community felt fulfilling.
Williams told Atlanta News First that the meals packed at the event would stay in the Atlanta community. The Hawks said the food would be distributed across metro Atlanta with operational support from U.S. Hunger. The team named five local partners: Atlanta Community Food Bank, Hosea Helps, Midwest Food Bank, The Salvation Army of Metro Atlanta and Sweetwater Mission. The release did not assign a meal total to each group or give delivery dates, so the verified outcome is the food packed for local distribution; timing has not been reported.
The event responds to need in the same region where organizers plan to send the food. The Hawks page, citing the Atlanta Community Food Bank, said one in eight people and one in six children in its service area are food insecure, meaning they may not have reliable access to enough food. It also reported metro food-bank demand has risen nearly 60 percent in three years, with about 255,000 people served monthly. Those figures describe need, not the share one event can resolve. The result so far is the volume of food prepared for local hunger-relief partners.
This was the sixth Million Meal Pack the Hawks and State Farm have held, following earlier events in 2019 and 2022 through 2025. The team said those five gatherings involved more than 26,000 volunteers and produced more than 5.1 million meals. With the sixth event’s reported total, the partnership said its combined effort had passed 6.1 million meals. That tally spans several years of volunteer work rather than one day at the arena.
The Hawks also said this was the fifth Million Meal Pack at State Farm Arena held under zero-waste conditions. More than 90 percent of event materials were diverted from landfills from setup through breakdown, and the cardboard used for meal packaging was upcycled, the team said. Those environmental figures come from the organizer; Atlanta News First’s report focused on volunteers and the food packed.
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