HEALTH & FITNESS

hunger

Durable
Harvest

Hunger relief service marks
20 years of rescuing and
redirecting surplus food.

Above: "Everybody said 'You can't do this,'" says Nancy,

Fishman, founder of the Forgotten Harvest food rescue

agency. Left: "I just fell in love with the mission and the

board of directors," says Forgotten Harvest CEO and

President Susan Goodell of Birmingham.

Judith Doner Berne

Special to the Jewish News

L

ike a good parent, Nancy
Fishman gave Forgotten

Harvest, the food rescue
agency she founded 20 years
ago, roots and wings.

Their first goal was to rescue 12,000

pounds a year — delivering it to a few
kitchens and shelters. Forgotten Harvest

is now rescuing and delivering 19.5 mil-
lion pounds a year across three counties.

A pound is roughly equivalent to a meal.
"I was seeing perishable foods go

Nancy and Marcia's trip to view a

similar effort in Philadelphia, which was
further along, gave them a model for
Forgotten Harvest.

The MAZON Council of Metropolitan
Detroit, part of a national Jewish orga-

nization that works to combat hunger
by donating to hunger organizations,
made up their first board, gave them

These roots lie in the Jewish commu-
nity, which planted the seeds for what

to waste at the bar and bat mitzvahs I
attended," says Nancy, a Birmingham
psychologist who holds a doctorate in

is now the second-largest food rescue

counseling from Wayne State University.

their first grant and continues to sup-
port their work.

agency in the United States — with
plans to grow even bigger.

The Beginnings

At the same time, members of MAZON
also helped launch Yad Ezra, the kosher

The mission of Forgotten Harvest's
founding board — of which Fishman was

president; Gary Dembs and Nancy Gad-
Harf, vice presidents; DeDe Weinberg,

of the organization's 23, soon to be
24, vans has been donated, as has its
mobile pantry.

"I was struck by such a high form of
giving," Nancy says. "They gave other

trucks and money — all anonymously.
Annie just died — on the eve of our
20th anniversary."

"I think the Jewish News is so pivotal

In the late '80s, her Jeep Cherokee
became a familiar sight at the back door
of synagogues and party venues and

food pantry on West 11 Mile in Berkley,

in this history," she adds. "Otherwise,
I might have been rescuing food in my

which Forgotten Harvest services.
Still, the front-page headline in the Nov.

car the rest of my life."
"I can't use enough adjectives to

at the kitchen door of local restaurants,

10, 1989, Detroit Jewish News reported
"Hunger Project Wheels Are Slow."
"Without a $15,000 refrigerated van,

describe Nancy's efforts," says Rabbi
Paul Yedwab of Temple Israel, who
along with Rabbis A. Irving Schnipper,

the project has stalled," the article
explained.

now a chaplain with the Jewish Hospice

secretary; and Marcia Fishman (Nancy's
sister), treasurer — was to "relieve

including the Southfield patisserie owned
by Bonnie Fishman (yes, another sister).

hunger in the Detroit metropolitan com-
munity by rescuing surplus prepared and

Together with architect/builder hus-
band Ronnie Wilner, Nancy carted foods
that were "viable but not saleable" to

perishable food and donating it to emer-
gency food providers."

now deceased, who read the story and

anonymously donated the money to
buy their first wheels. Since then, each

soup kitchens and shelters.

Nancy reveals it was Temple Israel
members Jerry and Annie Friedman,

DURABLE HARVEST

on page 44

June 24

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6

2010

43

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