I was looking for a place to donate feminine hygiene products. There didn't seem to be a lot of…read moreplaces available in the area that did that or they were closed on weekends. I happened to find and stop by the Drake house. It was outside of their hours but i was still able to drop off my items in bins that are clearly label 'Donations'. They have a small playground area as well. The set up of the entire place was nice and the cause they stand for is very admirable. Initially I wasn't sure if they were open or closed and I walked into a laundry area and there was a lady doing laundry so certain facilities are still open but the 'office' itself was closed for the day.

Excellent place for temporary housing for single moms…read more Wonderful staff. Decent apartments.

My wife and I visited Open Hand Atlanta to volunteer our time for a couple of hours to prep meals…read more Open Hand provides nutritional meals for those with chronic diseases, such as AIDS/HIV, different forms of cancer, etc. These nutritional meals promote and prolong healthier way of life. Once you arrive and sign in, you'll be taken to a waiting room area, where Open Hand staff gives you a rundown of their history and what their mission is. You also get the rules of the prep room and are gifted a one of a kind hairnet, plastic apron, and men with facial hair gets face masks. No jewelry may be at any time. Rings, necklaces, earrings, facial piercings, watches, etc. can NOT be worn. There are different things that you can do at this space, but I wanted to do meal prep. We washed our hands and grabbed plastic gloves. Keep in mind, the gloves are different sizes. The meal prep was like an assembly line. The meal we prepped was Beef Stroganoff on Noodles with Green Beans. With a scale, the first person weighed the appropriate number for the noodles, the second person weighed the right number of beef stroganoff, and the third person weighed the right number for green beans. There is then a fourth person who wipes off any excess food from around the rim of the food container. This is important so the plastic cover will seal appropriately. It's then put in this contraption that holds multiple containers and a person press seals it and puts it to the side. This is definitely quite a process, but once you get into the flow of it, it becomes easier. Some people make it a challenge against another group to see who can make the most meals. Side note: THIS PLACE IS FREEZING! The ENTIRE BUILDING IS COLD! Bring a jacket or hoody. Overall, this is a great place to come with a group or by yourself and do some charitable services. Fortunately, we came with a large group of my wife's coworkers, so we were able to knock out over 2,500 meals which was awesome! I'd definitely come back.

I volunteered at Open Hand two weeks ago (Saturday, July 22, 2017) and had a lot of fun. I didn't…read moreknow what to expect as far as working conditions, the general environment, and exactly what we would be doing. Would I be in some freezing cold meat locker? Would I be inside an insanely hot warehouse? Would I be breaking my already broken back moving heavy objects around? Would I be doing some mundane task for hours and be bored out of my mind? Fortunately, the answer to all those questions was no. I went with a big group to celebrate someone's birthday (a neat idea). Half of us did meal packing and the other half did market basket packing. I signed up for meal packing. Our meal packing session involved packing meals into bags and portioning food into individual containers (think frozen TV dinners). The food was already cooked and just needed to be heated up to be eaten. Market basket packing involves packing nonperishable foods. In this case, the food wasn't cooked and the recipients would need to cook it themselves. We signed up to work from 1pm to 4pm. Each of us had to register on Open Hand's website. After registering and reserving our spots, we received confirmation emails with information, reminders, and dress code requirements. One of the dress code requirements in my confirmation email said, "Long pants are preferred. Skirts or dresses must be shin length." I wore shorts. When standing, those shorts touched the top of my knees. My girlfriend, who also signed up for meal packing, wore shorts too. Her shorts were shorter. She ended up getting moved to market basket packing because of the length of her shorts. This wasn't a big deal, but the dress code requirements listed in the confirmation email should have been more clear about shorts or simply just said that long pants are required for meal packing. There was at least one other person in our meal packing group with knee-length shorts. When you arrive to Open Hand, the volunteer entrance is clearly marked. Each volunteer must sign in and sign out using a computer just inside the entrance. We arrived right around 1pm, checked in, and were ushered into an orientation room. The orientation was quick, about 10 minutes. A short video about Open Hand was played and then we got some in-person instruction. After that, we were whisked to our volunteer work areas. For meal packing, we had to wear hair nets and aprons. First, we helped prepare bags to place meals in, then we moved into the meal packing work area. This was a cool, clean room with various tables and assembly lines. One group was already sealing TV dinner trays when we arrived. We washed our hands and helped assemble bags with four meals in them: Monday lunch, Monday dinner, Tuesday lunch, and Tuesday dinner with cornbread and condiments (ketchup and mustard). It was pretty easy. Each person was assigned to place one or two items into each bag and pass it down. I was responsible for the ketchup and mustard. After a bag had four meals, cornbread, and condiments, it was tied and placed on a tray which was later stacked and carted off. We assembled 126 of these Monday-Tuesday meal bags. Two of our meal packing group were broken off and sent to the cornbread station where they individually bagged and sealed cornbread. The cornbread was already cooked and cut. After assembling the meal bags, we took a short break in the break room and then were called back into the meal packing room for another job. This time, we had to portion food into TV dinner trays which would later be sealed. This task was harder than the last because we had to handle food directly with our hands (wearing gloves of course) and measure correct portion sizes using scales. We packed 285 meal trays filled with chicken, mushroom risotto, and peas and pearl onions. The hands of the people scooping and portioning out the risotto and peas got tired. I helped a little bit with the peas and organizing and stacking the meal trays on bigger trays, but I mostly was responsible for placing a piece of chicken on top of the risotto. We ended up spending almost our full 3-hour allotment at Open Hand. The market basket packing group ended up finishing early, in under 1.5 hours. Volunteer Services Manager Julie Barwig was the person who oversaw our group. In the meal packing room, Andre led us for the meal bag packing and Shameka led us for the meal tray portioning. Everyone was nice and friendly. I enjoyed the experience so much that I'm now considering signing up to do meal delivery. Open Hand's mission statement: "Open Hand helps people prevent or better manage chronic disease through Comprehensive Nutrition Care, which combines home-delivered meals and nutrition education as a means to reinforce the connection between informed food choices and improved quality of life." The campus is located in the industrial Armour neighborhood of Atlanta near SweetWater Brewing Company and the Armour Yard rail yard on the southern edge of Buckhead.

I have volunteered with quite a few organizations in and around Atlanta and HERO for Children is by…read morefar the best. No other organization comes close! I started volunteering here last summer for one of their large events which was a huge Field Day. There were just as many volunteers as children and EVERYONE was having a great time. I cannot imagine the amount of planning that went into having this event go off without a hitch. Anyway, HERO for Children is an organization that seeks to improve the quality of life for children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. They do this by teaching life skills development, providing emotional and mental support through mentoring relationships, and just making sure that the children have access to a wide range of life experiences. It's great! I have been mentoring with them for less than a year but, I can already tell that this is going to be a long term commitment. If you are looking for a way to get involved, I would highly recommend HERO for Children.

Awesome organization! I cannot wait to start working with them. The kids are fortunate to have this…read moreorganization helping them.

Had a great time with my 6 and 9 year old kids last week during "dad camp". The Fulton library has…read morea free pass you can check out for up to 4 people which is great but it is otherwise affordable. I would budget at least 2 hours here or as many as 3 if your kids are going to interact with the butterflies and the turtles and do the scavenger hunt as mine did. The indoor exhibit is small but charming and there are a few native species around. The downstairs education center also does a scavenger hunt every month which is really cool. They've done an amazing job of "gamifying" nature/science learning with their points based rewards system and natural objects exchange. We learned a lot about butterflies and caterpillars on our quest. The points thing goes a long way to motivating little ones that may be more skeptical about "learning" experiences and museums. But if you have kids who are more active and will walk, the variety of local trails contained within the nature center is quite nice. I would recommend coming here for adults without kids too for this reason. I heard there were little fairy houses somewhere too here but. I didn't see them. We saw the beaver, a variety of different birds including hawks and owls, and tons of other local animals. It was cool to see how intentional the design was of the outdoor sections and the map they give you at the gift shop/ticket counter is helpful. I also like how they have lots of play areas built in outside for kids to explore in a less structured way. They also have some nice picnic spots. Staff were friendly and helpful. "Feeding" (with the little sugar sticks) the butterflies was fantastic. Even on a hot summer day, I'm super glad we came and if it wasn't so far from where I lived I would attend more regularly/become a member.

My kids ages 2-7 and I all enjoyed this place. Enclosed animals to see, including a beaver from…read moreafar. Lots of boardwalk paths and trails to walk on. We ran out of time!

My 8yr old Maine Coon has a lump on his back paw. Out long time vet had left the practice and no…read morefull time vet yet. Took him into another local vet last week who basically wanted us to go see oncologist after they did a needle biopsy and it was inconclusive. Or do labs etc. the vet office was charging a large amount. I talked to a friend who recommended Paw Project. I had never heard about it. Let me say the value of the labs was significantly cheaper and the appointments were not too far out. Was able to come in for the service we needed for a fraction of the cost. Everyone was super friendly; and took amazing care of our sweet boy. His labs came out great,

I don't often write bad reviews, but PawProject deserves one. I took my dog to PawProject for…read moreheartworm testing and eval for dental cleaning. After the exam, I was told straight up that my dog didn't need dental cleaning, so I could not book the service. I decided to purchase heartworm preventatives using their online pharmacy, but after EIGHT attempts in a month to get the medication, the order was rejected EVERY SINGLE TIME by their veterinarian. Each time the reason was that there was a prescription on file already so they could not approve an order request, but there WAS no prescription on file to begin with. All I can assume is that Pawproject wants my dog to get heartworm infection and die. I hate Pawproject and will report them to the Georgia Board of Veterinary Medicine. Don't go there.

The Ronald McDonald House is my favorite charity. The house on Peachtree Dunwoody is unbelievable…read more The current model is brand new as of December of 2015, and it is like a fancy hotel. Meals and most items in the house are donated. Families stay here for free (or a minimal donation) while their child is at one of the nearby hospitals. Everyone that works here is positive and helpful. I volunteer at the front desk, and the amount of love that I see flowing through this building is amazing. Great things can happen when people work together.

My family volunteers at this location of Ronald McDonald House Charities and the new house is…read moreexactly what was needed! The rooms are almost always fully booked, offering much needed housing and support to families whose children need care at Scottish Rite.

I love this place! Coffee shop is located right inside the community center. There is a "pooch…read morepost" where you can safely leave your dog while getting your coffee. They have hot and iced drinks and will even give you a complimentary pup cup of whip cream with your order.

Every single thing about BrewAble is great. The vibe is chill. Service was fantastic and everyone…read moreworking here was really nice and helpful. Every single thing we bought was terrific and the menu itself was to die for. BrewAble - We will definitely return.

After volunteering here in the HOT sun, it really made me appreciate all the landscapers that I…read moredrive by every day. It's hard work! I was given the weed whacker and put to work! Loved it! HomeStretch is a small housing community in Roswell for families in transition. It provides emergency relief for people who are victims of domestic violence, have fallen on hard times, or need a place of respite after a tragic event. The one criteria is that you must have children. HomeStretch is focused on providing some stability for kids and families. Jim, the man in charge, is a wonderful person, doing great things for these families. He can tell you about each one of the residents and give you a history on the program. Both he and the program are impressive. By the end of the day, my team and I had mowed and weed whacked 10 lawns, painted nearly 2 full apartments, and beautified a few gardens.