(all information on this page was current as of 06/2019)
Get Some Quick Answers About Hunger
- In southeast Michigan, more than 614,000 people are food insecure.
- Within Gleaners’ service area, more than 146,000 children are food insecure.
2018 Gleaners Highlights
- More than 43 million pounds of food distributed in 2018.
- 18.7 million pounds of fresh produce were provided to hungry families.
- 96,348 meals provided each day to people in southeast Michigan.
- 2.32 million pounds of food collected at 1,677 community food drives.
- 41 BackPack Program sites feeding 5,450 children at 69 schools year-round.
- 5,655 Cooking Matters graduates, helping them save an average of $260 per year through improved food management skills. This equated to $1.47 million in economic benefit to households.
Children are at even higher risk of hunger.
- At least 40% of the people Gleaners serves are children.
- More than 300,000 children in SE Michigan receive school meals. On the weekends, they often go without food. (Kids Count)
- One in five Michigan children live in poverty, with household incomes under $24,858 for a family of four.
- Child hunger remains a serious problem in southeast Michigan. When children lack access to regular, nutritious meals, they don’t have what they need to reach their fullest potential.
- Hungry kids have less of a chance at living healthy and successful lives. Studies show that hungry children do not perform as well in school and are more prone to behavioral or psychological problems.
How does Gleaners nourish hungry people?
Gleaners is one of the oldest food banks in the country and has been serving hungry people since 1977.
- Gleaners serves 5 counties in southeast Michigan: Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, and Monroe.
- Gleaners has 5 distribution centers, located in Detroit (HQ), Livingston, Warren, Taylor, and Pontiac.
- Gleaners has 528 partners across southeast Michigan, including pantries, soup kitchens, schools, senior centers, and shelters.
- Gleaners gets as much donated food as possible from food manufacturers and retailers, federal programs, farms, and volunteer food drives. The remainder of our food is purchased at deep discounts to meet the dietary requirements of those served.
- In addition to providing emergency food, Gleaners also works to solve hunger by providing education (such as Cooking Matters classes) and resources (such as My Neighborhood Mobile Grocery).
Note: All food banks require that their partners do not ask clients to pay, pray, or work for food. (People are welcome to do any of these at our partners, but it is never a condition of receiving food.)
How can people make a difference?
- Every dollar donated provides 3 meals.
- 93 cents of every dollar goes directly to food and food programs.
- Food donations help too!
- Gleaners is able to use 93 cents of every dollar donated directly on food and food programs because we keep our expenses low. Volunteers are a BIG part of that.
- In 2018, 57,132 volunteer shifts were completed, resulting in 152,256 hours of volunteer work toward Gleaners’ mission.
Spread the word
Encourage people to advocate for their hungry neighbors. An easy way to stay informed and pass on news and stories is to visit www.gcfb.org and follow Gleaners Community Food Bank on social media:
