Bill Bolling of Decatur: Georgia Trend's Georgian of 2012

Decatur resident Bill Bolling has joined the ranks of the most influential people in Georgia -- folks like U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, former Gov. Sonny Perdue, House Speaker David Ralston and former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Bolling, the creator and executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, has been named Georgian of the Year by Georgia Trend magazine. A portrait of him by Steve Penley graces the January issue of the business magazine with statewide distribution.

Georgia Trend also released its list of the 100 Most Influential Georgians and several Decatur-area residents were included: Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd; Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol Hunstein; former DeKalb County DA Robert Wilson:Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.

 After bouncing around different jobs, Bolling created the South's first food bank in 1979 in the basement of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta. The food bank distributes food to needy people, utilizing about 1,000 volunteers.

He told Georgia Trend writer Jerry Grillo the need for food banks is greater than ever.

“In my talks, I always say there aren’t many good things that can come out of a depression or a recession or whatever this is. But when I say that we’re distributing 34 percent more food, and dealing with the logistics of that, all the trucks, the warehouse, it just means that thousands more people are helping their neighbors,” he says.

“It’s really neat to see what people are capable of doing for each other in uncertain times. In the past, so many of us used to think of those ‘other people’ or that ‘other guy.’ Maybe they were immigrants, maybe they were poor people, maybe they had personal problems and made bad choices, but they were the ‘others.’

“Now, that ‘other guy’ is your brother-in-law or your neighbor.”

Georgia Trend also put him on the list of the 100 Most Influential Georgians.

This hardly Bolling's first honor. According to his bio on the ACFB website,

Awards include the 2009 Shining Light Award presented by Atlanta Gas Light and News/Talk 750 WSB, the 2009 Beacon of Light Award presented by BoardWalk Consulting, the 2005 Ethics Advocate Award presented by the Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, Atlanta Regional Commission’s Golden Glasses Award for Visionary Leadership, the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award, the Sidney Marcus Public Service Award of the Atlanta Fulton County League of Women Voters, UNICEF’s Child Survival Award, Georgia Department of Community Affairs Housing Champion Award, Atlanta Urban League Distinguished Community Service Award, and the John Van Hengel Hunger Fellow Award presented by Feeding America.

If you want to see and hear Bolling explaining the work of the ACFB, check out this video.

Congrats, Bill Bolling. An award richly deserved.