'It's kind of fun to do the impossible.' Walt Disney

This Sunday, join Dr. Phil Knight, Gerry Brisson the President & CEO of Gleaners Community Food Bank, and Sherri Welch, Senior Reporter for Crain's Detroit Business on Food First Michigan!

Sherri grew up as a Detroiter and is doing her part in telling the story of Detroit's comeback. She has written from many different non-profit's perspectives during the pandemic and is now honing in on the '4th wave of reality'. The 4th wave surrounds the federally funded food programs within the school districts and how they will soon shift back to 'normal' due to schools re-opening, whether virtual or face-to-face. In turn, creating a gap as we shift due to the federal food programs dropping off at the same time and ALL allocation programs will drop significantly. This equates to the perfect storm.

Perspective:

Pre-COVID: The MI food bank network was distributing an average of 2.6 million lbs. of food / week.

During COVID: The MI food bank network has averaged 4.5 million lbs. of food / week.

And, now due to the federal programs and allocation dropping off, food distribution is expected to increase by 15% - that equates to 667,000 MORE lbs. / week.

It will be ALL hands on deck this fall and winter in Michigan to help us do the IMPOSSIBLE!

Related article: https://www.crainsdetroit.com/nonprofit/food-banks-expect-spike-demand-meals-kids-shift-back-school-delivered-models