From The Gut
Forgotten
Harvest
continues to
reap success
providing
food to
Detroit's
hungry.
Patricia Harker feeds her son, Robert, at Baldwin Shelter In Pontiac.
c.)
Lil
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RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
GLENN TRIEST PHOTOGRAPHER
here's nothing funny about
hunger in Detroit. But
there's little better than a
night of comedy to help
eliminate it.
Just ask king-of-wit Tim
Allen, star of ABC's "Home
Improvement," or Nancy
Fishman, a member of
Temple Israel and founder
of Forgotten Harvest.
Forgotten Harvest is a
nonprofit hunger-relief
organization that began
three years ago as part of
Mazon, the Los Angeles-
based Jewish agency that
raises money to battle star-
vation worldwide. The local
Mazon chapter, comprised
of Jews from about 12 con-
gregations, decided to form
a committee to target
hunger closer to home.
The committee grew
quickly. It broke off from
Mazon and now includes
gentiles on its largely
Jewish volunteer board.
With two paid staff,
Forgotten Harvest collects
perishable surplus food from
grocers, restaurants and
other sources approved by
Oakland and Wayne County
health departments. The
food is delivered directly to
soup kitchens, pantries and
shelters in metropolitan
Detroit.
"All companies producing
and supplying food have
surpluses. If it were not for
Forgotten Harvest, the sur-
plus would be thrown
away," Ms. Fishman said.
"Forgotten Harvest picks up
the surplus food before it
hits the garbage."
Forgotten Harvest trans-
ports about 15 tons of food
each month to metropolitan
Detroit programs, which
provide more than 25,000
meals a week.
"The greatest gift about it
is they bring the food to us,"
said Kim Sinclair, kitchen
coordinator for the Pontiac
Rescue Mission, which pro-
vides shelter, counseling
and meals for victims of
abuse and drug addiction,
as well as the homeless.
"Forgotten Harvest has
been a blessing."
Two Saturdays ago at the
Fisher Theater, Forgotten
Harvest sponsored Comedy
K