Forgotten Harvest: Rescuing Nutritious Food

Southfield, MI (CBS Detroit) - Forgotten Harvest is Southeast Michigan's food rescue organization. Their mission: to reduce nutritious food waste and to prevent hunger as much as possible in Metropolitan Detroit.

"Forgotten Harvest operates in a space that we have over the years characterized as an emergency food space," explains Kirk Mayes, CEO of Forgotten Harvest. "Over time, we have taken those food resources and given that out to the community. Corporate involvement with companies like Zeal is vitally important for the way that Forgotten Harvest has to move our food."

"The Zeal Credit Union has started to give every department in the company a donation of $250 to donate to a charity of their choice, explains Bryan Feldpausch, Marketing Manager for Zeal Credit Union. "So this whole program, relating back to a skate party where we asked for a food donation, spiraled into something where we really have a company-wide focus on community give-back, especially focusing on hunger and food rescue."

"We've noticed that too many families it's much more than emergency food," adds Mayes. "It is the food that has filled the gap between people eating and getting the bills paid at the end of the month."

"On a day like today, we're going to re-package thousands of pounds of food that otherwise was going to go to waste," adds Feldpausch. "And some people are really going to need that, and we're going to get it to them. So that absolutely makes me feel like I'm giving back."

"If we didn't have the 16,000 volunteers that come in to help Forgotten Harvest every year, there would be no way for us to accomplish our mission on the scale that we do."

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