My name is Claire Fendrick, and I am the new PEEL Program lead here at Concrete Jungle! I am a second year Masters student at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. During my senior year of college, I developed a deeper interest in the food justice movement, and decided that it was the field in which I hoped to explore when I moved to Atlanta for grad school. This interest led me to Concrete Jungle, where I’ve been working since the fall of 2020. During the 2020-2021 school year, I co-led the COVID-19 Grocery Delivery Program from September to June. Now that we’ve wrapped up GDP, I’m moving on to helping the transition back into PEEL programming for the fall!   

One of the most vibrant parts of Concrete Jungle is our Program Assistant Jeanie. Jeanie is so full of life, has never met a stranger and can make ANYONE laugh. Jeanie got to know Concrete Jungle while shopping at SWEEAC (Southwest Ecumenical Emergency Assistance Center). “I would come to the cooking classes and I just adored Lauren who was leading the class.  There was lots of camaraderie in the cooking classes, and I put it out there that I wanted to help. I’ve always wanted to be helpful and I saw an opportunity with CJ.”  

We have had a couple of very intense months, with no sign of easing up, and we wanted to take a moment to pause and acknowledge the trauma and rage we have felt over the violent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other black individuals. The Concrete Jungle staff and Board want to acknowledge that injustices against the Black community go beyond police brutality. These murders, in addition to the way COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting communities of color, highlight the injustices that continue to plague the Black community and other marginalized individuals.

Anyone who has hung around the Concrete Jungle for any time at all knows how much we love our apples! Concrete Jungle has put an incredibly unique spin on apple collecting that makes the process of apple picking and processing just as healthy as the process of eating the fruit itself.