Alex George Poulos, a Naples, Florida native now living in Atlanta, says that he hopes to feed at least one thousand people in need during the coming holiday season. He is the founder and executive director of Food on the Table, a nonprofit committed to providing nutritious foods to homeless people and to families living on the edge of poverty.

"The reason for so much hunger in the United States is not a scarcity of food," says Alex George Poulos from Naples. "It's really about the ongoing prevalence of poverty. There is far too much of it in this, the world's wealthiest nation, and I think that this fact is a disgrace."

Food on the Table is his imaginative way of addressing the problem. He says that he was inspired by a subculture of people called Freegans, who have rejected societal norms and live by "harvesting" dumpsters for food and a wide range of consumer products that have been thrown out, even though they are still perfectly useable.

Alex George Poulos from Naples says that he doesn't have much sympathy for Freegans as an alternate lifestyle. But the fact that they have been able to sustain themselves, and have done so for years, made a deep impression on him when he read a newspaper article about a Freegan group in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.

"I took that idea, and with a lot of talking and arranging and bargaining, I've set up a system of reclaiming and distributing food to those who need it most." That talking and arranging and bargaining involved interactions with dozens of local restaurants to reclaim useable food that would otherwise wind up in the local landfill. And it led to the establishment of Food on the Table several years ago.

Food on the Table is in operation year round, but Alex George Poulos from Naples says that it is always busier for them during the holiday season. "I don't know why that is, really, because hunger is something that is always there."

Alex George Poulos from Naples is the owner of The Diamond Man, a wholesale gold and diamond business in Atlanta. He is a graduate of Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia, where he earned a degree in business administration.