About Us
Mission
The mission of Forgotten Harvest is to relieve hunger in the
Established
Forgotten Harvest was formed in 1990 to fight two problems: hunger and waste.
What we do
In fiscal year 2011 – 2012, Forgotten Harvest became America’s largest food rescue by rescuing a record 42 million pounds of food. Forgotten Harvest rescues food by collecting surplus, prepared and perishable food from a variety of sources such as grocery stores, restaurants, caterers, dairies, farmers, wholesale food distributors, and other Health Department-approved sources. This donated food – that would otherwise go to waste – is delivered free of charge to emergency food providers throughout metro Detroit.
Recipient agencies in network
250
Types of agencies
Emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless and domestic shelters, children’s homes, senior centers and group homes.
Service Area
Number of food donors
450
Leadership
Forgotten Harvest operates under the direction of a volunteer Board of Directors and a small and dedicated professional staff.
Harvesting
Forgotten Harvest currently transports, on average, more than 3,000,000 pounds of rescued food each month to soup kitchens, pantries and shelters. In FY 2011-2012 we rescued over 42 million pounds of food. According to food industry standards, 1 pound of food = 1 meal, so this is the equivalent of more than 42 million meals per year.
Funding
Forgotten Harvest is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. It is funded by foundation grants, individual and corporate contributions, religious organizations, service groups and fundraising events. All donations to Forgotten Harvest are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law. Contributions are also eligible for the
Accountability
We are proud to report that over 93% of the organization’s expenditures were for food program services (est: FY 2010-2011).
