Intown Cares Help House & Feed the Needy
With Rabbi Hillel Norry as one of the founders, Aaron Chaiken now serves as Board Chair and carries on Congregation Shearith Israel’s tradition.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Intown Cares hosted Heart & Home, its 12th annual gala, on May 2, at The Atlanta History Center. More than 350 corporate and community leaders and Intown Cares stakeholders came to recognize their good works, volunteers and leadership.
One who stands out is Atlanta native Aaron Chaiken, Intown Cares Board Chair. Their tikkun olam mission is to prevent and reverse homelessness and hunger specifically in Intown Atlanta.
Chaiken said, “We deliver dual programs to help neighbors navigate the journey to housing and food. We deploy one of the most effective homeless services teams and operate one of the most innovative low-barrier food distribution programs in the Atlanta area.”
By the numbers, in 2023, Intown Cares achieved two impactful milestones: 1,000,000 meals distributed, and 1,000 clients housed. In 2024, they helped 231 clients move into permanent housing and distributed 498,019 meals.
Intown Cares was founded in 2010 as Intown Collaborative Ministries, a cohort of faith communities that operated a food pantry. Those faith communities included Shearith Israel, and Rabbi Hillel Norry was a founding board member. Over the years, as the mission expanded, they began helping those who have long lived on Atlanta’s streets find permanent housing.
Chaiken said, “Today, we still receive vital support from our original supporters, as well as government grants, foundations, businesses, community partners, and individual donors. While the work at the heart of Intown Cares remains unchanged since our founding 15 years ago, our dual programs, whom we support through our expanded service area, and the partnerships we maintain, represent an evolution of the organization.”
Chaiken learned about Intown Cares through a coworker who was on their board. He joined the board in early 2020, noting his first board meeting was also the first week of the COVID lockdown. In applying his Jewish values, he said, “It’s about showing up with care, dignity, and joy. Volunteering in homeless encampments and at the food pantry, I’ve learned that support isn’t just giving — it’s also about how we connect. Sharing a smile, listening, laughing together — those small moments reflect the deeper values I have tried to bring, and I see Intown Cares’ team members bring every day.”
Chaiken is most proud particularly of how they consistently adapt to new challenges such as the rapid-fire immediate reaction to COVID and partnering with the CDC to share information in both directions early in the pandemic. Secondly, he shared, “It’s terrific how well Intown Cares partners with so many other organizations in the homeless services and food community in Atlanta … Intown Cares has more partners than we have room for here, but some of our closest partners include the City of Atlanta and Mercy Care.”
Currently, they have 30 deeply committed staff members. They prioritize hiring folks with lived experience, which results in more client empathy. At the AHC event, videos were shown of appreciative clients whose lives were improved, if not permanently altered for the better, by the organization.
Board member and past Board Chair, Joanna Genser said, “The Torah commands that a poor person be granted ‘sufficient for what lacks, according to what is lacking to him.’ Intown Cares has a deep commitment to treating all of our neighbors with loving kindness … this organization helps me fulfill my responsibility as a Jewish person.”
Chaiken grew up in Sandy Springs and attended Congregation B’nai Torah. He graduated from Greenfield Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva Atlanta High School, then earned a BA from the University of Chicago, and later an MBA from their Booth School of Business. Currently, he works at Bain & Company in consulting and talent management roles as VP of Americas Consulting Programs. He lives with wife, Tal, and two children, Jordan (7) and Maya (4), in Candler Park, and are members of Congregation Shearith Israel. He noted that community leaders Aaron and Angel Goldman are champions of Intown Cares with Perennial Properties serving as a Heart & Home sponsor.
To get involved, please email development@intowncares.org.
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