Right now, a kid in Atlanta is one steady adult away from making it — or one bad week away from gone. One steady adult away from making it. One bad week away from gone.

Building Bridges & Hope walks alongside young people who've been counted out — a meal, a bed, a paycheck, and someone who shows up every week. We don't fix kids. We back them.

The gap

Marcus was 16, couch-surfing, skipping meals to stay invisible. Smart enough to know nobody was coming.

We don't hand a kid a brochure. We build the bridge. One plank at a time.

Every kid who crosses needs all five. Marcus walked every plank of this arc. The widest one changed his whole direction.

A warm meal

Nobody plans a future on an empty stomach. We start with the table.

A safe bed

Stable housing so a kid can stop surviving the day and start building one.

Mentoring

The weekly check-in. The adult who keeps showing up — the reason to keep going.

04The widest plank

Barbering

A real trade, a real chair, a real skill that pays. Where Marcus found his reason.

Employment

A first paycheck, a license, a way to stand on his own — and reach back.

meals → housing → mentoring → barbering → employment

The chair

I open the shop now.

He came in arms crossed, hood up, dragged by a friend. He didn't say a word for three weeks. Then someone put clippers in his hand. Eight months later, Marcus is 17, opens the shop most mornings. Thirty regulars and a waitlist for his fade. He tests for his license this spring. Nobody fixed him. He just needed one thing that was his.

Marcus is a composite — a portrait drawn from the kids who walk through our door.

A young student barber giving a fresh fade in the shop — focused, steady, his own chair.

The other side

Marcus made it across. He's not the exception. He's the proof.

$25 fills the table for a kid who's skipping meals. Build his next plank.

Back a kid today →

Pick what you can do. Watch what it does.

$25Fills the table Hot meals for a week. Nobody learns on an empty stomach. Give $25 → $50Stocks the chair Clippers, guards, capes for a student barber's first month. Give $50 → $100A month with a mentor The weekly check-in that becomes the reason a kid keeps showing up. Give $100 → $250His first barber license State board exam & starter kit that turns an apprentice into a paid barber. Give $250 →

Other amount →

Givebutter covers our processing fees, so 100% of what you give reaches the kids.

Donations are secured by Givebutter.

The pattern

One kid is a story. This many is a pattern.

kids housed

trades learned

100%

of them, somebody's reason to keep going

In the field

This is what showing up looks like.

No stock photos. No staging. Just Atlanta — meals served, chairs filled, fades sharpened, and a crew that keeps coming back.

Two smiling Hearts of Haircuts volunteers mid-service, gloves on, in golden-hour light — Hearts of Haircuts volunteers mid-service

Eddie serving food at a community meal — Serving the table

Eddie and Friends Giving Back volunteers prepping meals assembly-line style — Meal prep with Friends Giving Back

Big Eddie and volunteers together at an outreach event — Big Eddie and the crew

Two barbers cutting hair at a free haircut event, Eddie looking on — Free cuts — two chairs going

Eddie with a Good Day Good Deeds partner volunteer — Good Day, Good Deeds

Wide view of a street outreach event with an active haircut in the foreground — Setting up on the block

Free haircuts for the homeless sign at a street outreach event — Free haircuts, no questions

Supply table stocked with fresh fruit and gloves — The supply table

Group photo with Sigma Gamma Rho sorority volunteers at a campus event — Campus day with Sigma Gamma Rho

Volunteer holding a 15 years of Friends Giving Back milestone sign — 15 years of Friends Giving Back

Volunteer in a What Is Life Without Love shirt — What is life without love

Volunteers sorting donated clothing on tables — The clothing drive

Boxes of donated food from the Arby's Foundation in a car trunk — Arby's Foundation drop-off

Video: barbers working through the line at a free haircut street event — The chairs stay busy — free cuts day

Free haircuts for the homeless event signage — The sign on the block

Volunteer wheeling a cart of supplies into an outreach event — Supplies rolling in

Video: a fresh cut in progress at a free haircut street event — Mid-fade — free cuts day

Wide view of multiple barber chairs going at once at an outreach event — Every chair going

Volunteers and neighbors embracing at a community event — More than a meal

Video: the crew on the block at a free haircut street event — On the block

Crowd gathered at a BB Hope outreach event — The crowd shows up

Friends Giving Back volunteers in red shirts around smoking grills at the Gateway Center cookout — Cookout at the Gateway Center

All photos and clips from BB Hope outreach across Atlanta. Tap any of them to expand.

Our founder

He ran for mayor. Now he runs toward the kids nobody else will.

Eddie Meredith has spent his life walking Atlanta's hardest blocks — a pastor, an organizer, the guy serving hot meals and sitting with the people the system forgot. In 2025 he carried that work to the ballot, running for Mayor of Atlanta on housing and what he calls systemic healing. Building Bridges & Hope is that same mission, pointed at the kids: meet them where they are, walk with them, and build the bridge that gets them across.

"My mission is to serve the people of Atlanta with integrity, vision, and action. I am committed to building a city where every resident feels safe, supported, and empowered to thrive."

— Eddie MeredithFounder, Building Bridges & Hope · Atlanta

@meredith_for_mayoratl Read Eddie's story →

Shoulder to shoulder