Food Gatherers

Mission: To alleviate hunger and eliminate its causes in our community.

Established in 1988 as Michigan’s first food rescue program and the sixth in the United States, we are the first food rescue program to be founded by a for-profit business, Zingerman’s Delicatessen. A few days before Thanksgiving in 1988, Food Gatherers’ volunteers borrowed a van and collected 50 pounds of vegetables, bread, milk, and eggs from half a dozen grocery stores and restaurants. The food was quickly redistributed to hot meal programs in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

Today, Food Gatherers is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization governed by a board of directors and operated by 35+ staff members and thousands of volunteers annually. In Fiscal Year 2024, we distributed 9.9 million pounds of food, the equivalent of 8.2 million meals, to our neighbors experiencing food insecurity.

We rescue local food and leverage state and national food resources for hunger relief. We lead a network of hunger relief providers and engage the public in the fight against hunger. We create and sustain innovative new food programs in response to emerging needs. We recognize that hunger will not be solved through the provision of food alone, so we advocate for policies and system changes to create an equitable food system.