ANN ARBOR – Hundreds of community members including elected officials, members of the local food industry, nonprofit leaders and volunteers gathered at Washtenaw Community College on Wednesday morning for Food Gatherers' first-ever The State of Our Plate event that looks at hunger and its impacts in Washtenaw County.
Founded in 1988, Michigan's first food rescue program just celebrated 30 years of alleviating hunger across the county.
Recommended Videos
The luncheon included remarks from local religious, county and education leaders. Phil Knight, the executive director of Food Bank Council of Michigan and Food Gatherers President and CEO Eileen Spring shared statistics on local and national hunger with the audience, including:
- 40% of food in the U.S. is wasted.
- In 2018, Food Gatherers rescued 3 million pounds of food.
- 1 in 7 hungry people in Washtenaw County get food from Food Gatherers.
- Food Gatherers serves 8,000 children in Washtenaw County.
- 12% of children in Wasthenaw County are hungry; in Ypsilanti, those numbers range from 40% to 50%.
- Food Gatherers has one of the highest volunteer rates in the nation (considering population) with nearly 7,000 volunteers.
- Food Gatherers serves roughly 14,500 meals a day to 170 programs in 18 townships.
"I really imagined when I started 25 years ago that we would have solved hunger by now," said Spring. She recalled the recent government shutdown and the impact it had on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program program and the organization and its ability to serve hungry people with limited resources. She was able to secure emergency funding from local policymakers to ensure that the Food Gatherers' warehouse wouldn't risk depleting its food supply by April.
"For every meal we provide, SNAP provides 12," said Spring.
A panel discussion aimed at proposing ways to solve countywide hunger featured U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon, Community Health Services Director at Michigan Medicine Alfreda Rooks, and was moderated by Food Gatherers' Director of Community Food Programs Markell Miller.
"We need to make sure that every young child has three meals a day," said Dingell. "And they need to eat on the weekend; and they need to eat during the summer. We need to have this hunger conversation. As a community, we've got to address the issue of hunger, of helping people. These issues are not partisan issues."
On the topic of health, Rooks remarked, "When we talk about health, we are not talking about a disease or a treatment. We are talking about a person in our community ... and food is a big part of that." According to Food Gatherers, 42% of households it serves has one member with diabetes. Access to healthy food can save lives, said Rooks.
Gordon said he encourages everyone who might qualify to apply for SNAP. "Even if you have a little money in the bank you can struggle with hunger," he said.
In her closing remarks, Dingell called on members of the audience to pay more attention to what is happening locally. "Be sensitive to communities that are around Ann Arbor," she said. "Be sensitive to affordable housing, be sensitive to transportation. Because these contribute to the issue. Don't be afraid to talk about it."
Following the panel discussion, attendees broke out into groups for discussions facilitated by heads of local nonprofits, Food Gatherers staffers, U-M professors and others. Topics included:
- Food insecurity on college campuses
- Leveraging the local food system
- Local challenges with food recovery
- How racial inequity impacts food security
- Reaching all of our neighbors in need: Increasing resource visibility
To learn more about Food Gatherers, visit www.foodgatherers.org.
All About Ann Arbor is powered by ClickOnDetroit/WDIV.