Detroit-area schoolchildren take a vacation from hunger
Charter One teams up with Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners Community Food Bank to expand services to children and families during summerDETROIT (June 19, 2008) - Charter One today announced the launch of Summer Vacation from Hunger, an initiative to help fight the impact of child hunger during the summer. As part of this effort, the Charter One Foundation has pledged $100,000 to Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan to provide much-needed funding to feed thousands of children and families throughout southeast Michigan.
“Summer should be a carefree time for kids. Sadly many children face the grown-up issue of hunger when school is out and access to free lunch ends,” said Sandy Pierce, President of Charter One Bank, Michigan. “Charter One is grateful for the leadership of Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners in the fight against hunger and we’re proud to partner with them to make a difference for children in our region.”
The number of children affected by hunger in southeast Michigan is growing. Today one in five Michigan children under 18 years old reside in households getting food stamps. More than 250,000 school children in the tri-county area are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches – an important resource that ends when school is out for the summer.
Summer Vacation from Hunger creates areas of collaboration between Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners, including joint communication efforts to raise awareness, increase knowledge of available resources and identify actionable steps the public can take in the fight against child hunger. In addition, this initiative will provide targeted focus to the Osborn community where the largest per capita number of children live in the city of Detroit.
Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners will partner with key community leaders in the Osborn neighborhood to bring coordinated emergency food service. Detroit Community Initiative, Family Independence Agency, The Skillman Foundation, and St. John Hospital have collaborated to identify grassroots and faith-based organizations located in Osborn who can partner with Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners to establish sustainable programs to feed hungry neighbors.
“Forgotten Harvest is dedicated to providing fresh, nutritious food to the underserved children in our community,” said Susan Goodell, executive director for Forgotten Harvest. “We’re grateful to Charter One for initiating this project to help feed more children and at the same time, bring greater awareness to the serious issue of summer hunger.”
Throughout the summer, Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners will bring a mobile food pantry service to Osborn on designated days to feed the community and introduce their services. This tactic will jump-start feeding children and families and engage community leaders.
The mobile food pantry service will be featured in different locations on a weekly basis in the heart of the neighborhood and include volunteer colleagues from Charter One.
“Gleaners Community Food Bank thanks Charter One for its commitment to children,” said DeWayne Wells, president of Gleaners. “Its support will help us expand our summer lunch program for kids and ensure more children in underserved communities will be happy, not hungry, when school is out.”
Additionally, Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners will conduct joint informational meetings with community and faith-based organizations in Osborn to inform them of their emergency food programs and consult with them to establish the necessary infrastructure to create sustainable food distribution sites and obtain food-safety certification.
For more information on the Summer Vacation from Hunger initiative and ways in which the public can learn more about hunger issues and become involved, visit the following Web sites: forgottenharvest.org and gcfb.org.
About the Charter One Foundation
Charter One Foundation is a subsidiary of the Citizens Charitable Foundation, which is a charitable contributions vehicle of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., RBS Citizens, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. The foundation’s support is focused on housing, community development and basic human needs.
About Forgotten Harvest
Forgotten Harvest, based in Oak Park, Mich., was formed in 1990 to fight two problems: hunger and waste. Forgotten Harvest currently rescues over 9.4 million pounds of food per year by collecting surplus prepared and perishable food from a variety of sources, including grocery stores, fruit and vegetable markets, restaurants, caterers, dairies, farmers, wholesale food distributors, and other Health Department-approved sources. This donated food, which would otherwise go to waste, is delivered absolutely free of charge to 148 emergency food providers in the metro Detroit area. The individuals and families served are as diverse as the community’s residents – young and old, from all races and faiths. The common bond uniting them with each other and with Forgotten Harvest is hunger. Forgotten Harvest’s Web site is www.forgottenharvest.org.
About Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan
Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan is the third-oldest food bank in the United States. Gleaners secures food from grocers, food manufacturers, farms and gardens, individual donors and other sources and distributes it to more than 420 local non-profit agencies that feed people in need. Some of Gleaners’ partner agencies operate soup kitchens or food pantries that provide nutritious meals and food packages, while others include shelters and human service organizations that serve meals. Since 1977, Gleaners Community Food Bank has grown to distributing nearly 25 million pounds annually, equivalent to 65,000 meals per day. Gleaners’ Web site is www.gcfb.org.
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