Gleaners Community Food Bank Of Southeastern Michigan

Gleaners core activity involves securing, storing, and distributing nutritious Food to those in need via a network of Community partners, schools, and programs located throughout wayne, oakland, macomb, livingston and monroe counties. In fy2023, Gleaners Food distributions totaled 50.9 million pounds, equating to over 42 million meals. To supplement our network of partner agency Food distributions in fy2023, we maintained a network of 21 equivalent Gleaners run bi-weekly mobile Food distributions focused on underserved communities. These Community mobiles served 169,348 meal packages through 484 distributions in fy2023, including fresh produce and milk, along with shelf stable and frozen Food staples. Distributions through Community mobiles totaled 6.7 million pounds of the 50.9 million pounds of total Food distributions.in fy2023, Gleaners served students and families through school mobile Food distributions at 39 sites with 1.3 million pounds of food.gleaners senior mobile pantries bring nutritious Food to low-income senior living communities. Gleaners provided 318,000 pounds of Food, through monthly Food distributions, to nine senior-specific sites.providing nutritious Food that families want and need is our priority, including fresh produce and milk. In fy2023, Gleaners distributed 17.3 million pounds of fresh produce, accounting for 34% of all Food distributions. Leveraging a broad range of government, industry, and Community partners, including the usda, united dairy industry of Michigan, and the Michigan dairy farmers, Gleaners was able to source and distribute 760,000 gallons of fluid milk to the Community in fy2023. Combined, fresh produce and milk accounted for 47% of all Food distributions in fy2023.in total for fy2023, Gleaners Food programming reached over 775,000 households via both our partner agencies and our direct-to-consumer distributions across our five-county service area. Applying the fy2023 average of 2.4 individuals per household served for those distributions in which we have household detail, our Food programming reached 1.86 million individuals in fy2023.

Share our strength's cooking matters (cm) is a national nutrition education program that teaches families with low-income how to prepare healthy meals economically and how children can make healthier choices. Led by employee and volunteer chefs and nutritionists, cm teaches adults cooking and Food management skills, and introduces youth to concepts of good nutrition and how to improve healthy behaviors. In fy2023, 1,373 people graduated from the program (lower than the previous year due to staffing shortages, however, we are currently back to full staffing). Cm is currently offering hybrid programming, meaning Community members can participate in virtual or in-person classes.

The summer Food service program (sfsp), supported by the usda and Michigan department of education, provides breakfast and lunch to low-income children during the summer months, or when school is closed and students don't have access to nutritious school meals. Sfsp prepared meals were offered at 36 sites from june through august 2023. These meals were available at both center-based program sites (20 sites) and on mobile service routes (16 sites) serving 56,359 breakfasts and lunches. Additionally, during the summer of 2023, the gleaner'Gleaners's sfsp team worked with an outside consultant to conduct a plate waste study of the foods eaten. Results will be used to adjust the Food menu going forward with the goal of increasing Food consumption.

Our volunteer program creates experiences for people to engage in hunger-relief work. From packing meal bags for Community mobile and senior mobile Food distributions to working the front lines and placing Food into vehicle trunks, volunteers are engaged with a critical role in packing and distributing Food to our neighbors experiencing Food insecurity. Over 17,000 volunteer shifts were completed in fy2023.