About Us

Child hunger is a serious and growing problem in Michigan. Child poverty has grown to 23 percent, and more than a third of Michigan children live in homes where no parent has full-time, year-round employment.

Many of these children rely on school meals for their daily nutrition. In southeast Michigan alone, more than 300,000 children receive free or reduced-fee meals every day. When summer vacation starts, however, these children often go without the food they need to grow healthy and strong.

The Hunger Free Summer campaign was created to ensure that no child goes hungry this summer. The Charter One Foundation, along with other generous donors, including Ford Motor Company, Hiller’s, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and The Young Foundation, are matching, dollar-for-dollar, all gifts to the campaign. This means every dollar donated will provide eight meals for hungry kids instead of four.

Hunger Free Summer will support two of southeast Michigan’s most effective hunger-fighting charities: Forgotten Harvest and Gleaners Community Food Bank. Each organization reaches thousands of hungry children through programs directly designed to tackle child hunger.

In Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, 50 summer feeding sites will distribute Weekend BackPacks.  Approximately 42,000 BackPacks will be distributed over 10 weeks of summer - each BackPack holds six meals – providing 252,000 meals.

Each week, children at 46 sites throughout Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties will receive nutritious sack lunches through the Summer Lunch program. A total of 121,000 lunches will be provided over the summer.

With a goal to distribute 20,000 meals each week, the Daily Bread program feeds people in neighborhoods other programs don’t reach in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties and in the city of Detroit.  This program will distribute 200,000 meals over 10 weeks this summer.

The Mobile Pantry program is a partnership with schools and community organizations to provide food to children in struggling households. Each distribution provides approximately 200 households with 50 pounds of nonperishable food, produce and meat.  More than 1.4 million meals will be distributed through this program through the summer.

You can make a difference by donating today! Every dollar will be matched and provide 8 meals for hungry kids. You can also help by spreading the word. Join us on Facebook and twitter, and encourage your friends and followers to get involved.