Feeding Those In Need
West Bloomfi eld boy raises nearly $20,000 for
Forgotten Harvest.
ROB STREIT JN INTERN
M
ost bar and bat mitzvah
youth are rewarded after a
long journey of study with
a large celebration. Lavish dinners,
banquet halls filled with friends, family
and well-wishers are the norm. Guests
typically choose to show their affection
for the bar or bat mitzvah with gifts —
often in the form of a check.
Morgan Reifler, son of J.J. and Amy
and brother of Madison, wanted his
bar mitzvah at Temple Israel to have a
different meaning from most. The West
Bloomfield 13-year-old asked friends
and family to celebrate his coming of
age by making donations to a local
nonprofit in lieu of traditional gifts.
J.J. Reifler, Morgan’s father, agreed to
match donations from the May 5 event.
The beneficiary of Morgan’s gifts is
Forgotten Harvest. “I wanted to help
people who don’t have food,” Morgan
says. “So much food goes to waste.”
Morgan and his father raised nearly
$20,000 for the nonprofit, which trans-
lates into about 80,000 meals for peo-
ple facing food insecurities. According
to Forgotten Harvest, $1 donated
equals $7 worth of groceries, giving the
Reiflers’ gift an impact of $140,000.
Morgan, who attends Walnut Creek
Middle School, says the experience
gave him a sense of pride. “It made me
happy to help other people. Not every-
one has the same resources as I do,”
Morgan says.
Oak Park-based Forgotten Harvest
was founded in 1990 and specializes in
“rescuing” food from restaurants, gro-
cery stores, farms and other sources.
The organization collects from vari-
ous donor locations and delivers to
“emergency food providers” in Metro
Detroit. These include food pantries,
soup kitchens, shelters, senior centers
and group homes. Forgotten Harvest
rescued more than 45 million pounds
of food last year.
Tim Hudson is the chief develop-
ment officer for Forgotten Harvest.
“The funds raised by Morgan and his
family and friends will support the mis-
sion and core food rescue program of
Forgotten Harvest,” he said in a state-
ment. “By supporting critical program
costs associated with rescuing fresh
surplus food from 800 food donor sites
and then delivering this food to more
than 250 recipient agencies through-
out Southeast Michigan, this support
will help Forgotten Harvest distribute
nutritious food for 80,000 meals for
thousands of food insecure children,
families and seniors in our community,
or the equivalent of $140,000 worth of
groceries.”
One in six people lives in poverty in
Oakland, Macomb and Wayne coun-
ties, according to Forgotten Harvest.
The Detroit Food Policy Council
found in a 2017 study that 48 percent
of Detroit households are considered
food insecure. The council also found
that 40 percent of Detroit households
are enrolled in the SNAP food assis-
tance program.
J.J. says, “I wanted to teach him that
you can help other people by giving
your time and money.”
The Reiflers spent the Saturday after
Morgan’s bar mitzvah volunteering at
Forgotten Harvest’s Oak Park facility.
“We spent the afternoon repackaging
over 14,000 cucumbers,” J.J. says. “It was
a neat experience.”
The Reiflers want Morgan’s dona-
tion to encourage others to open their
hearts, as well as their wallets.
Morgan plans to attend camp this
summer at Greenwoods in Decatur,
Mich. He will also take a trip to
Cooperstown, N.Y. , with his baseball
team the N.F.W.B. Cobras to visit the
Baseball Hall of Fame. •
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jn
June 21 • 2018
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