Food program seeing increase
in request for emergency meals

By Heidi Roman
C & G Staff Writer

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — In 2009, 131,462 people in Macomb County didn’t know where their next meal would come from, and 48,460 households couldn’t afford to stock their cupboards.

The Macomb Food Program calls that a food emergency, and says there’s been a 44 percent increase in requests for emergency food since 2008.

“They don’t have enough food for meals everyday,” said Macomb Food Program coordinator Sue Figurski.

The good news is that the Macomb Food Program has no shortage of food to give, thanks to donations and drives. The nonprofit organization run by the county’s Community Services Agency stocks the shelves of 55 food pantries around the county, housed mostly in churches and service organizations.

“We serve as many as we can,” said Mike Watters, a volunteer from St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Sterling Heights, which has a pantry. But so many more people have been coming forward with empty stomachs that it’s been hard to keep up.

“We have trouble keeping the pantry stocked, there are that many more coming,” Watters said. “These are people that five years ago never thought they’d need help.”

On Pantry Day, the first and third Wednesday of every month, volunteers from the pantries bring trucks to the Macomb Food Program’s warehouse in Clinton Township to load up with canned, bottled and bagged vegetables, soups, juices and other items.

The pantries will now have access to more frozen meats since the program was able to purchase a larger freezer with federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. The old one was too small to fill with enough food to meet the demand, and the program had to turn donations away.

“That’s an awful thing,” Figurski said. “Forgotten Harvest had frozen food for us, and we couldn’t take it.”

At 4,000 cubic feet, the new freezer is double the size of the old one and can hold whatever donations the program might get. Frozen proteins are generally the most costly item to purchase.

Congressman Sander Levin visited the warehouse on its most recent Pantry Day Feb. 17 to see the freezer in action, and even helped out loading a few trucks. Levin said the new freezer is a good example of how the ARRA funds can make a difference in individuals’ lives. Unlike road and bridge projects, the food program has a more personal impact on residents.

ARRA funds also helped purchase some food. Some of it comes from Gleaners Community Food Bank, which sells food to the program at just 14 cents a pound. A $1 donation to the program pays for seven pounds of food, and a meal consists of about one pound of food per person.

There are also many fundraisers held throughout the year to support the program, the largest of which is the National Association of Letter Carriers and U.S. Postal Service Food Drive held every May. Many residents donate to that drive.

“We call it the great circle because the community comes to a lot of fundraisers and donates food,” which then gets distributed back into the community, Figurski said. “It’s families helping families.”

Only three full-time staff members work at the Macomb Food Program. The rest of the work is handled by volunteers.

“Our employees volunteer to help out at the pantry and at other organizations,” said Gigi Oleson, a human resources business partner from Henry Ford who was volunteering at the warehouse for the second time. “It’s just important to be part of the community and to give back.”

Volunteers help sort and box foods, stock the pantries and help with distribution.

Anyone who needs food assistance can call United Way’s 211 hotline to locate a nearby pantry.

For more information about the Macomb Food Program, call (586) 469-6004.

You can reach Staff Writer Heidi Roman at hroman@candgnews.com or at (586) 218-5006.