EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

Tzedakah Harvest
Feeds Hungry

Pangs of r'avohn
(hunger) haunt
them. But those
among us without
a bead on where
their next meal is
coming from are
not forgotten.
No matter if .
they're homeless,
elderly, unemployed, disabled or
working poor, they can count on the
caring folks who run Forgotten Har-
vest to keep them alive and well amid
the affluence of Detroit's suburbs.
Unique among local nonprofit
relief agencies, Forgotten Harvest sal-
vages surplus prepared and perishable
food destined for the dumpster. This
chesed (blessing) includes ready-made
foods not consumed at the end of the
day or foods nearing their freshness
expiration date.
What's gathered is delivered at no
charge to homeless shelters, soup
kitchens, food pantries and other
emergency food providers in Wayne,
Oakland and Macomb counties.
Forgotten Harvest recently reached
a significant milestone when it took in
its 3-millionth pound of otherwise
wasted or leftover food. Donors
include caterers, dairies, airlines,
restaurants, markets, bakeries, whole-
salers, vendors and other local, health-
department-approved sources.
Ecumenically inspired, Forgotten

Harvest got its start in 1990 when
Troy's Nancy Fishman was touched by
the spirit of God and responded to the
Jewish tradition of feeding the hungry.
At the time, she was on the local
council of Mazon, which in Hebrew
means food. The national Jewish orga-
nization provides funding to hunger
relief agencies, regardless of religious
affiliation.
Fishman stuns you, then wins you
over when she cuts to the heart of
what drives her — 50 percent of
Detroit's kids, she says, go to bed hun-
gry each night.
Buoyed by a mission of "sharing
food to relieve hunger," Forgotten
Harvest moves 60,000 pounds of
fresh, nutritious food every month.
That represents 720,000 meals a year.
The agency derives its moniker
from the Book of Deuteronomy. A
passage tells how God commands
farmers who "forgot a sheaf in the
field" during the harvest to not go
back, for "it shall be for the stranger,
for the fatherless and for the widow"
— in effect becoming the neeshkakh
katseer, the forgotten harvest.
Fishman turns that biblical passage
into modern heroics with only two
trucks, two drivers and a Southfield-
based office staff of five. She says it
costs about $1 to transport a pound of
food in a refrigerated van from donor
site to recipient agency.
Such agencies include Oak Park-
based Yad Ezra, which in Hebrew
means helping hand. Michigan's only
kosher food pantry, Yad Ezra receives

undertake full care of her husband.
Yes, indeed, the Aging Committee of
the Jewish Comunity Council sent a
fine rabbi to give talks on the signifi-
cance of our wonderous Jewish holidays.
But where were the communities
with the Jewish agencies to question
the Jewish residents on their need or
the quality of their care?
Where were the various shuls' vol-
unteers who help Christians on
Christmas and Easter but forget their
fellow men stressing out as caregivers
in homes and assisted living centers?
As to the stressed-out spouse we
have described, after the memorial to
her beloved mate, she asked herself the
question, "Who am I?"
She had alomst completely lost her
human satisfaction and identity in
those years of caregiving.
Yes, I note the grants to the elderly

from the Jewish Fund, resulting
from the unfortunate sale of
Sinai Hospital — all worthy
recipients.
Consider increasing grants
especially designed to help Jew-
ish caregivers. Allocate funds to
investigate conditions of Jewish
elderly living in residences of
nursing or assisted living. Let's
not condone violations by these
corporations.
The very essence of our Judaic
ethics lies at the core of the problem
Alan Goodman has presented. The
case history given has further illustrat-
ed the need for Judaic caring for the
aged and ill and their caregivers.
It behooves us to take on the caring
task.
Duva Tate
Southfield

ROBERT SKLAR
Editor

Soup kitchen volunteers prepare food delivered by Forgotten Harvest.

up to 2,000 pounds of kosher baked
goods a year from Forgotten Harvest.
"We feed the hungry through supple-
mental kosher food packages," said
Lea Luger, Yad Ezra development
director. "Yad Ezra and Forgotten
Harvest share a common value — not
wasting food when there are people
who are hungry. We both put food to
good use."
Forgotten Harvest also assists the
Food Bank of Oakland County, Light-
house of Oakland County, Pontiac-
based Baldwin Avenue Community
Center, Detroit Rescue Mission Min-
istries, Pontiac Rescue Mission,
Macomb County's Salvation Arniy
and Detroit's Capuchin Community

Center, Harbor Light Center and
COTS.
Last year, Forgotten Harvest
debuted Move Meals. The program's
intent: move even more meals to the -
hungry. For each tax-deductible $1
donated, Forgotten Harvest provides a
hungry person with a day's worth of
meals. As the dollars grow and
hunger eases, that person is more apt
to gain a skill, land a job, pay the rent
and escape poverty.
Forgotten Harvest's volunteer
board, led by President Charlie Deroo
of Farmington and Vice President
Steven Jacob of Birmingham, oversees
a $264,000 budget raised mainly by
HARVEST on page 38

Is There
Need To.
Know?

this type of information, "we" are
bringing it on ourselves.
Roz Komisar Blanck
West Bloomfield

I'm writing to
comment on
the Jan.30 Jew-
ish News article,
"Monica Lewin-
sky: A Nice

Need To Stem
Intermarriage

Jewish Girl?"
The author's recitation of the
Lewinsky family's lifestyle, appropriate
for divorce proceedings from which it
was gleaned, I believe is totally irrele-
vant and inappropriate for the readers
of The Jewish News to know.
If there are negative comments
about Monica Lewinsky's "Jewishness"
(referring to the editorial "Have Faith
In America") by the dissemination of

I think it is time for American Jews to
face the facts that while the majority
of us support a Judaism more related
to the democratic ethic espoused by
the United States Constitution, this
type of Judaism, as reflected in our
Conservative and Reform movements,
has NOT been able to maintain our
flock.
Over 50 percent of our children are
intermarrying and those that are not
are producing so few offspring that
they are not replenishing our losses.

2/13
1998

35

