Food Gatherers

The organization receives direct donations of Food, administers some government Food programs (tefap/usda/summer Food program) and purchases Food from wholesalers. Food is sorted, packed and delivered to more than 100 other nonprofit agencies such as homeless shelters, Food pantries, low income housing and after-school programs, who then distribute the Food to people in need throughout washtenaw county. In the last fiscal year, approximately 7.8 million pounds of Food were distributed, more than 60% of which was produce and protein items. Additionally, 83,125 in cash grants and 1,042,901 in the form of credits for Food purchasing were distributed to partner agencies.

Summer Food service program - the summer Food service program (sfsp) was created to ensure that children in lower-income areas could continue to receive nutritious meals during long school vacations when they do not have access to the national school lunch or school breakfast programs. The sfsp is a program of the united states department of agriculture, which provides funding to cover the costs of the meals at eligible sites. Food Gatherers is the largest sponsor of the sfsp for children in washtenaw county. Free meals are made available to children under 18 years of age and under or persons up to age 26 who are enrolled in an educational program for the mentally or physically disabled that is recognized by a state or local public educational agency.

Food Gatherers operates a community kitchen, which is located in the robert j. delonis center, home of the shelter association of washtenaw county. Volunteers transform rescued and bulk Food into useful Food resources and prepare and serve approximately 12 meals per week to those in need.