When Forgotten Harvest became the number one food relief organization in metro Detroit in 2013 and the number one food rescue organization in the United States, they defied the system because no one believed rescuing unwanted, unharvested and understanding systems that produced unnecessary waste and here is one example of that. Canada is the number one grower of tomatoes and I am sure everyone knows they sell to grocers five tomatoes on the vine but when you saw the perfect five on a conveyor belt going up and the ones, two’s, threes and fours going another direction ending up in the dumpster the lightbulb goes off rescuing millions of pounds of fresh assortments of tomatoes you just found millions of pounds of tomatoes that now could feed the hungry. I actually worked there as their first ever Chief Development Officer and we grew from 12 M lbs in 2009 to nearly 47 M lbs by 2013 all during the great recession where families were losing their housing and jobs in metro Detroit and our food became a lifesaver for hundreds of thousands of people. Never had anyone seen this kind of growth so fast but I truly believed it helped other food banks across America to see new opportunities to get more food to more people as they adopted the food rescue system not their strategic plan. It was an amazing time to be at Forgotten Harvest and to work alongside Susan Goodell who had taken the food rescue vision and multiplied it in a very short period! As well as people that became the heart of the organization like Krista Poole, Darryl Anderson, Peter Fezzey, Marci Fitch, and Kristen Yandora and the amazing drivers who gave it all everyday! But it also took 20,000 plus volunteers to repackage all the food and over 150,000 new financial donors who helped Forgotten Harvest to increase its fleet from 14 to 31 and add the additions to the building to manage such high growth. It took a team like the Detroit Lions are today to come together from the driver to packing staff to the volunteers it took a village and a village made it happened. Thank you for letting me tell my story
I worked directly with their volunteer and event staff and was treated exceptionally well with direction and guidance in a new event
Review from CharityNavigator
I was the project manager for our company volunteer leadership group and selected Forgotten Harvest based on what I read, and let me tell you best decision of my life. I had no idea of what I was doing, Krista Poole helped me every step of the way while I coordinated appx 100 volunteers intenrally. Once we arrived at Forgotten Harvest I was able to see the wheels set into motion. They provided an overview, the coordinators (Chef Aaron) quickly broke out the team into sections, and we were off and running. We were a constant movement of hustle and bustle until everything was completed, but what a great feeling. I provided the group with a survey after the event asking what we could have done better, outside of a few things I was responsible for the feedback was 100% favorable, with everyone stating they would do it again. The event was held in the fall and I am helping another leader coordinate our return back this month. Great organization with people who really care!!
I am a regular volunteer at Forgotten Harvest. It is amazing the amount of food that is rescued and put into the hands of those who need it. It is a great place to give of my time, because I feel that I am personally helping to alleviate hunger in metro Detroit.
I coordinated a service project with Forgotten Harvest and the students who participated had a great time! Forgotten Harvest did a great job of explaining their role as an organization and the impact that the volunteers would have by donating their time. The students had very positive feedback about their experience and have developed a greater understand of hunger and how they can help fight it in their every day lives. They also expressed that they enjoyed volunteering and felt that they really made an impact in their community through working at Forgotten Harvest. Many are already asking when we'll be doing another service project with them!
Forgotten Harvest is the most efficient food relief organization in the country and it provides food, quality fresh food that was destined for the landfill unless they rescued that food. From the humbling beginnings of picking up food out of the back of a 1984 Jeep Cherokee to a fleet of 25 refrigerated trucks they now provide nearly 20 million meals annually. They are the best bang for the donated dollar in all of the US.