Meijer wishes to congratulate Forgotten Harvest’s commitment to feeding the hungry in Metro Detroit for the past 25 years. The food rescue organization remains dedicated to relieving hunger and preventing nutritious food waste by rescuing surplus, prepared and perishable food and donating it to emergency food providers.
The organization has grown from humble beginnings, distributing 48.8 million pounds of fresh, healthy food last year. Forgotten Harvest rescues surplus fresh food from more than 800 donors, including 32 Meijer stores throughout southeast Michigan. In 2014, Meijer donated nearly 1.4 million meals to the food bank.
Forgotten Harvest was founded by Dr. Nancy Fishman after a personal encounter with hunger. During a difficult time in her life — when her family was struggling to make ends meet — Dr. Fishman made a commitment to help others in need of food assistance. Starting from the back of her own vehicle, Dr. Fishman rescued food from local events and religious celebrations. When an elderly couple read about her desperate need for a van to increase her services to those in need, they made an anonymous donation that paid for the food bank’s first truck.
Today, nutritious food is transported by Forgotten Harvest drivers using 35 refrigerated trucks and provided at no charge to 280 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, youth programs, and mobile pantry sites throughout Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Over the years, Meijer donated tworeconditioned tractors to Forgotten Harvest.