Gleaners Community Food Bank extends a heartfelt thank you to the DTE Energy Foundation for their recent gift of $50,000, which came at a critical time, to purchase and distribute nutritious food in several areas of high-risk need within our five-county service territory.
The past year has been significantly challenging for neighbors already struggling to make ends meet, with rising grocery prices and stagnant wages. Adding to that stress, on March 1, 2023, more than 1 million Michiganders lost critical pandemic-era benefits that helped them put food on the table.
As neighbors and organizations alike braced themselves for what many are referring to as the “hunger cliff,” the DTE Foundation stepped up in a time of urgent need. Among The DTE Foundation’s six focus areas for community giving is Human Needs, which supports efforts to provide nutritious meals to neighbors at risk of food insecurity.
“Our partner organizations were grateful for the support from the DTE Foundation at a time when so many of the people they serve needed extra help. We cannot express our gratitude enough.”
“Listening to our community partners, we saw a surge in demand for food resources on the horizon – and we knew we had to act quickly,” said Jennifer Lawson, program manager at the DTE Foundation. “We turned to Gleaners as a trusted and reliable partner with a demonstrated ability to be nimble, impact-driven, and strategic with our funds, helping to alleviate hunger for our most vulnerable neighbors.”
Gleaners put the DTE Foundation’s generous gift to immediate use. Within just two weeks’ time, Gleaners crafted a tailored distribution plan, sourced and ordered critical food items, and distributed resources. The plan included a restocking effort and supplemental food boxes – with a variety of shelf-stable items such as protein, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables – for our vital agency partnerships, allowing us to offer more support for individuals and families in need. We also added extra milk and pounds of protein to existing mobile food distributions in Highland Park and Inkster, among other areas of critical need.
“We are honored to have the DTE Foundation by our side to power our efforts in the community,” said Mollie Allard, agency relations manager at Gleaners. “Our partner organizations were grateful for the support from the DTE Foundation at a time when so many of the people they serve needed extra help. We cannot express our gratitude enough.”
About the DTE Energy Foundation:
The DTE Energy Foundation (“Foundation”) is the philanthropic arm of DTE Energy (“DTE”) and supports initiatives focused on arts and culture, community transformation, economic progress, education and employment, environment, and human needs. For more than 20 years, the Foundation has invested in communities where DTE has a business presence. In 2022, the Foundation provided more than $15 million in grant support to over 300 nonprofits. Visit DTEFoundation.com to learn more.
About Gleaners Community Food Bank:
Headquartered in Detroit, Gleaners serves five Southeast Michigan counties: Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, and Monroe. Gleaners provides food to more than 400 partner agencies, including schools, soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and others across the region, and supplements the efforts of those partners by offering direct-service, drive-up grocery distributions. Every dollar donated provides three meals, and 92 cents of every donated dollar goes to food and food programs.
For more information, visit gcfb.org.