(December 28, 2016 – Detroit, MI) … Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan (Gleaners) received a $10,990 grant from the Red Nose Day Fund to support its School Food Mobile Pantry Program aimed at reaching hungry children in southeast Michigan communities with the greatest need. The grant allowed Gleaners to provide 32,970 meals to hungry neighbors through mobile food pantry distributions at 12 schools.
The School Food Mobile Pantry Program launched in April of 2011 with five sites. Currently, the program provides monthly distributions of nutritious, healthy food to students and families at 78 school sites in five counties (Livingston, Oakland, Wayne, Monroe and Macomb). Each distribution provides 75 to 100 families with up to 30 pounds of fresh fruit, vegetables, grains, protein and other nutritious food.
“This food assistance program is a lifeline in our community,” said Jocelyn Sexton from Detroit’s Marvin L. Winans Academy of Performing Arts. “We love the comradery this opportunity affords us, in that we get to service our school families in a tangible way. It has helped us build a bridge of trust with our surrounding neighborhood and our families love the variety of food.”
The Red Nose Day Fund grant provided food for more than 1,100 low-income students and their family members through the School Food Mobile Pantry Program.
Funds raised through Red Nose Day support nonprofits that work to lift children out of poverty. Red Nose Day selected Feeding America as one of its domestic partners. Gleaners is a member of Feeding America’s nationwide network of food banks.
About Red Nose Day
Red Nose Day is a fundraising campaign run by the non-profit organization Comic Relief Inc., a registered 501(c)(3) public charity. Red Nose Day has raised over $1 billion globally in the last 25 years, and in the UK has become a cultural phenomenon where people across the country come together to have fun, raise money and change lives. Red Nose Day launched in the U.S. in 2015, dedicated to raising money to help children who are most in need, both in the U.S. and in some of the poorest communities in the world. In 2016, the U.S Red Nose Day raised over $36 million
About Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan
Everyone wins when hunger is solved. For nearly 40 years, Gleaners Community Food Bank has been “feeding hungry people and nourishing our communities.” Headquartered in Detroit, Gleaners operates five distribution centers in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe counties and provides food to 535 partner soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters and other agencies throughout southeastern Michigan. Gleaners collects 34.5 million pounds of food a year and distributes 79,000 meals each day including providing nourishing food and nutrition education to 84,700 children a year. Every dollar donated provides three meals and 93 cents of every donated dollar goes to food and food programs. Learn more at www.gcfb.org.
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