24 | DECEMBER 22 • 2022 

W

hen Chad Techner 
of Metro Food 
Rescue, an 
Oakland County nonprofit that 
helps prevent food waste by dis-
tributing it back into the com-
munity, checked his phone in 
between food rescue stops, he 
wasn’t expecting an email from 
CBS Evening News.
“When I’m on the road, I like 
to check emails to see if there’s 
anything urgent to reply to,
” 
Techner, 41, of West Bloomfield 
says. Techner, who also works 
at the Ira Kaufman Chapel and 
serves on the Gesher Human 
Services executive board, is 
no stranger to receiving many 
emails, but he didn’t realize the 
opportunity this particular one 
would lead to.
The email inquiry was from a 
producer at CBS Evening News
who was working on a story 
about food waste. After chatting 
with Techner for 15 minutes 
about the work of Metro Food 
Rescue, she said to him, “I think 
you’re the one to tell this story.
”
A few weeks later, CBS 
Evening News hit the ground 
running. They sent an entire 
crew to Metro Detroit to spend 

a day filming the work of the 
nonprofit organization. The 
crew included the producer 
who initially contacted Techner, 
a camera guy, an audio tech, a 
correspondent from Chicago 
and two security personnel.
Techner’s friend and local 
photographer Brad Ziegler also 
joined the group to help take 
behind-the-scenes photos of the 
CBS Evening News production. 
All in all, there were seven vehi-
cles following the Metro Food 
Rescue truck throughout its 
missions.
Together, they captured a day 
in the life of Metro Food Rescue 
— and the lives that were 
changed by a simple good deed.

FEEDING THE COMMUNITY
Filming began at Metro Food 
Rescue’s first stop at kosher 
Jewish food pantry Yad Ezra, 
which is one of the organiza-
tion’s main partners.
“They had non-perishables 
that were not kosher,
” Techner 
explains, “so we picked that up 
and went down to the Seward 
Sharing Table.
”
The Seward Sharing Table is 
a tent in Detroit’s New Center 

neighborhood where the com-
munity can drop off food for 
people in need. “We do a big 
drop there every Tuesday,
” 
Techner says. “We’ll drop off a 
couple pallets of food and then 
the community comes out and 
takes whatever they like or can 
utilize from what we dropped 
off.
”
Next on the agenda was a 
stop at the Oakland County 
Farmers Market in Waterford, 
where Metro Food Rescue 
picked up bread and produce 
to then deliver to social services 
organizations Oakland Hope 
and Lighthouse in Pontiac.

“We started at Yad Ezra and 
literally went from Detroit to 
Pontiac and everywhere in-be-
tween,
” Techner says.

A GROUP EFFORT
Still, this is a typical day for 
Metro Food Rescue, which is 
on track to rescue more than 
1.5 million pounds of food this 
year.
Over the course of nearly 
seven hours of filming, CBS 
Evening News captured it all, 
interviewing donors, recipients 
and the Metro Food Rescue 
team about the impact of these 
missions.
“It was exciting and over-
whelming,
” Techner says of 
being selected for the story. “It 
was truly an honor. We’re all 
doing amazing work.
”
Metro Food Rescue was 
scheduled to appear as an eve-
ning segment on CBS Evening 
News during the week of Dec. 
19, though the exact date isn’t 
set yet. Techner hopes more 
people can learn about the orga-
nization’s mission to help sup-
port Metro Detroiters in need.
At the end of the day, how-
ever, he gives credit to the com-
munity — particularly that of 
Metro Detroit. 
“I could have only done this 
here in this community,
” he says 
of Metro Food Rescue’s work. 
“The support that I’ve gotten 
since day one has been amaz-
ing.
” 

OUR COMMUNITY

BRAD ZIEGLER

A National 
Audience

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Audience

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Metro Food Rescue 
to be featured on 
CBS Evening News
segment.

You can see the 
CBS crew filming at 
the drop-off center 
in the New Center 
area of Detroit.

Chad Techner 
works to distribute 
food throughout 
Metro Detroit.

