About Cure Hunger Here

The sad truth is that 1 in 10 families in Michigan receive food assistance from food banks each year. Many people getting helped are living right next door - they are working mothers and children, seniors on fixed incomes, and others who don't fit the profile of a homeless or destitute person. If we don't feed our hungry neighbors, the cost to our community goes up exponentially. Without food, children don't learn in school. Without food, seniors end up in the hospital with problems they could have easily avoided. Without food, parents steal and end up in jail - just so that they could feed their children. These are only a few examples of the high cost of hunger - many of which are not on the radar screen for people who can make a difference.

For the past 30 years, Gleaners Community Food Bank has emerged as a leader and innovator in food banking. In spite of our accomplishments, we still need your help in order to get more food to more people in need. As a result of our success, many community members and our more than 400 partner agencies have asked us to take a leadership role to help meet the growing needs in our community. Because of this, we have decided to celebrate our 30th anniversary by building greater awareness and asking our neighbors to Cure Hunger Here.

Every person has the capacity to help heal the life of another. No matter your interests, background or abilities, you can play a part in reducing hunger in southeast Michigan. We invite you to join us in this effort to Cure Hunger Here.

Top 10 Hunger Facts

• Gleaners distributes food for roughly 65,000 meals every day. That translates to 71,000 pounds of food daily.
• One million people in Michigan will need emergency food this year. That is one in ten people.
• In 2005, Gleaners provided nearly 17 million meals to people in southeast Michigan. In 2008, Gleaners' goal is to provide 27 million meals - 10 million more than currently provided.
• In 2006, Gleaners distributed nearly 25 million pounds of food to its 400 partner agencies.
• Gleaners Community Food Bank was founded in 1977 as the third food bank in the United States.
• Gleaners feeds more than two million households annually, representing approximately 44% of all households in the state of Michigan.
• Gleaners operates with the help of more than 14,000 volunteers. The amount of work volunteers accomplish is equivalent to the work of 20 full time staff members.
• Last year, more than 75% of Gleaners' revenue came in the form of donated food - totaling $28 million.
• 44% of our hungry neighbors in southeast Michigan are seniors and children.
• 36% of our hungry neighbors in southeast Michigan are children under 18.
• 30% of metro Detroiters live in poverty and suffer hunger.
• 40% of Michigan's hungry neighbors live in rural or suburban areas.
• 70% of people who use food banks have incomes at or below the poverty level.

United Way and Gleaners Partner with Emergency Food Hotline
United Way for Southeastern Michigan 2-1-1 service and Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan announced a new partnership between the agencies on November 6, 2007. Gleaners will assist United Way 2-1-1 callers with pick up of their food donations, both perishable and non-perishable, in an effort to increase efficiency and feed more hungry citizens in need.

Want to know more about Gleaners? See our 30 Years of Gleaners chronology page.

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Special Recognition Awards Announced

For the first time, four special recognition awards were presented at the 14th Annual Women's Power Breakfast to powerful women for their dedication and work with Gleaners to help feed our hungry neighbors. The Cure Hunger Here Awards recognizes the outstanding contributions of individuals, organizations and corporations for their effort to minimize the impact of hunger in southeast Michigan. Instituted as part of Gleaners Community Food Bank's 30th Anniversary celebration, these awards highlight successful endeavors to address hunger and its related effects on people in our community.

Corporate Leader Award is designated for companies that have a long-term commitment to hunger relief and declare it as a philanthropic and/or corporate volunteerism priority.

Corporate Leader Award: Elizabeth A. Lowery
Vice President Environment and Energy, General Motors
Lowery and her team at General Motors see the problem of hunger as a grim reality of daily life affecting people of all ages, races and socio-economic levels. By continuing to support Gleaners, Lowery feels that we can all do our part to help feed hungry people. Giving back to the community, helping organizations and assisting with projects that improve the educational, cultural, economic and environmental aspects of the world is very important to everyone at General Motors. Gleaners is an organization that truly does improve people's lives.

Lifetime Service Award honors the collective achievements of those who have dedicated their lives to feeding our hungry neighbors and improving their ability to free themselves from the conditions resulting in hunger.

Lifetime Service Award: Eleanor M. Josaitis
Co-Founder, Focus: HOPE
Through Josaitis' work with Focus: HOPE and Gleaners, she has made important contributions to public awareness of hunger and malnutrition. Josaitis feels that through the years, Gleaners has never lost sight of its mission, and that is the major reason she has remained with the organization. She feels hunger is a reality that's going to take all of us to work together to eliminate. Josaitis believes we have to constantly tell the story so people know the reality. She admires Gleaners' continued passion to erase hunger because we want to live in a world where hunger has been alleviated for good.

Outstanding Leader Award is awarded to an individual, organization or company that has demonstrated broad, innovative and audacious actions in an effort to feed our hungry neighbors.

Outstanding Leader Award: Sandra E. Pierce
President & CEO, Charter One Bank, Michigan & Indiana
Pierce became very involved with Gleaners in 2005 when the Charter One Foundation supported Gleaners Year of the Pantry and with the launch of Carving Out Hunger in 2006. Pierce is committed to Gleaners because she likes the fact that they take a leadership role to eradicate hunger in our communities - not just feeding our hungry neighbors. The one message that Pierce wants to spread is hunger is something that should not occur in a country as plentiful as the United States and part of the solution is eliminating waste by redistributing surplus food to those who need it most - and that's where Gleaners plays an essential role.

Founder's Award is reserved for those who have participated in establishing the programs, services, activities and venues that make it possible to deliver food and other resources to our hungry neighbors and help to facilitate Gleaners' overall operations.

Founder's Award: Jane Marshall
Executive Director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan
Marshall began her work in the charity food distribution business in 1983. Thanks to her work, Michigan now has one of the most well-established and supported state food bank networks in the United States. Marshall remains involved with Gleaners because the problem of hunger in southeast Michigan is so overwhelming. She believes it is wrong for anyone to be without the food they need. That injustice motivates her. She stands by the belief that there is no better way to spend a dollar than on good nutrition.