Attorney General Sam Olens announced a statewide contest in Gainesville on Wednesday that is intended to raise money and collect food for the state's needy children.

The initiative, called Georgia Legal Food Frenzy, pits law offices across the state against each other in a competition to collect the most food or money for local food banks.

Olens announced the competition while speaking to the local bar association at the Georgia Mountains Center on Wednesday, noting that all local donations would benefit the Georgia Mountain Food Bank.

The competition will occur in two weeks in late April and early May.

Olens noted the recession as a reason for the new food donation initiative, and a desire to make sure that needy children get adequate nutrition when school is out in the summer.

Georgia will be the fourth state to join the initiative, which aims to stock food banks for the summer. Olens has set a goal for Georgia lawyers to collect at least 600,000 pounds of food in the first year.

The amount of food and money each law firm collects will be divided by the number of lawyers in the firm. The food and money collected in each community stays in that community, Olens said.

"This is a great opportunity for lawyers to show their value to the community, to be engaged with the nonprofit community and do something that's crucial," said Olens. "We can all talk about these causes, and we all get calls to give money. But making sure that these kids have food in the summer is a huge, huge cause."