Donate
  • About
  • Rent College Pads
  • Advertise
  • Privacy
Search
News
Opinions
Sports
Classifieds
Comics
BMA
Events
Subscribe

Friday, June 9, 2023
Print Archive

Eastern Echo
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinions
  • Comics
  • Podcast
  • BMA
  • Events
  • Classifieds
  • Search
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinions
  • Comics
  • Podcast
  • BMA
  • Events
  • Classifieds
Search

Subscribe to the Echo

Donate to The Echo

You can support the Echo by donating through the EMU Foundation and selecting to apply your gift to a specific fund. Any of the funds listed below will provide support to the Echo.

01049 -- EMU Echo Editor Endowed Scholarship:  Provides financial support for the current EMU Echo Editor.

02414 -- Scott Stephenson Eastern Echo Scholarship:  This expendable scholarship is for the benefit of student(s) in the School of Communication, Media & Theater Arts in the College of Arts & Sciences.  It will be awarded to a full or part-time junior or senior EMU student majoring in journalism and working for the Eastern Echo.  The student should be working to self-finance their education and not be eligible for need-based grants.

00825 -- Student Media Development:  Provides support for the Student Media program.

Thank you for supporting the Echo and EMU Student Media.

Give Now


3/15/2022, 8:00am

Rotary Club of Ann Arbor and Food Gatherers partner to fight food insecurity

Until March 18, a food and fund campaign put together in partnership between The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor and Food Gatherers will be accepting financial gifts and food donations.

By Tori Walz

Share

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Mail
  • Print

The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor and Food Gatherers are partnering for a fundraiser until March 18. to fight food insecurity in Washtenaw County.

The campaign created by The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor is to fund and host a food drive to provide food to children and families during the summer months when school is not in session and they lack access to free or reduced-price meals.

“Food Gatherers is a food bank and food rescue program that serves Washtenaw County,” Helen Starman, chief development officer of Food Gatherers, said. “We have over 170 partners and programs throughout the community that need children, adults, seniors and veterans.”

Donations of $25 or more will be matched by the Harold and Kay Peplau Family Fund up to $10,000.

“The Harold and Kay Peplau Fund was established multiple years ago when Harold and Kay Peplau were alive,” Starman said. “They were very concerned about food insecurity in the community. For many years they made generous donations to both the Food Gatherers and other food banks in southeast Michigan.They designated $10,000 from the fund as a matching gift for the Rotary Face Child Hunger Food Drive.”

All food and funds collected through the campaign will directly be donated to Food Gatherers and distributed to their partners and affiliated programs.

“Food Gatherers will distribute food to 170 non-profit partners and programs working to alleviate hunger in our community,” Todd Kephart, previous board member of the Rotary Club, said. “Examples of these partners include the Salvation Army, Dawn Farm, Ozone House, Peace Neighborhood Center, Perry Nursery School, Dexter Senior Center, SOS Community Services, the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, and Hope Clinic.”

Most-needed items include low or no-sodium, high-protein products such as beans, canned meats, and peanut butter; low or no-sodium hearty soups; canned fruit; baby food; and supplemental drinks such as formula and Ensure.

The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor works on both local and global projects. The food and fund campaign, an annual spring event, is the only one in Washtenaw County for food insecurity.

“We have been hosting this drive since 2006, always in the spring to fill Food Gatherers’ coffers as the end of the school year approaches and families face the end of school breakfast and lunch programs which disappear during the summer,” Kephart said. “In the first few years we were raising, in monetary and food item donations, the equivalent of 8-10,000 meals, but momentum has grown as the years progressed to the point where last year we funded 150,000 meals, which is also our goal this year.”

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental to food insecurity in Washtenaw County. 

“In the first six months of the pandemic, child food insecurity in our community doubled; today, the rate is decreasing but remains 12% higher than before the pandemic,” Kephart said. “Food Gatherers has some great information on the immediate impact of COVID on food insecurity in the community; 40% of food pantry users had never needed one before.”

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor created a pandemic response fund to assist the community. The Pandemic Response Fund raised almost $62,000 with the help of the three subcommittees of The Disaster Response Team. The PPE/Healthcare/Frontline Worker Support identified needs in the community, Human Services developed a brief grant application for nonprofit organizations affected by COVID, and Fundraising organized the campaign and encouraged donors all in one month.

Food Gatherers encourages community members to donate non-perishable food items during the campaign. Donations can be made online at foodgatherers.org/rotary or by bringing food donations or checks to Food Gatherers at 1 Carrot Way in Ann Arbor. Warehouse hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.- 4:45 p.m.

Share



Related Stories

The Eastern Echo Podcast Logo Fall 2019

Podcast: February 23, 2022

By Tre Briscoe

Food Gatherers employees and volunteers have continued to work throughout the pandemic. (Photo courtesy of Food Gatherers)

Food Gatherers partners with DoorDash for grocery delivery program

By Marie White

The official logo of Ypsilanti Community Connected Schools and Mrs. Gail Sykes class that continued their education remotely through the pandemic. 

Ypsilanti Community Schools to launch full-time remote learning program, "Ypsilanti Community Connected Schools," in fall

By Anastasia Moutzalias


The Eastern Echo welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic. Read our full guidelines here.


Most Popular


6/3/2023, 8:29pm

Review: 'A Small Light' is a dramatic retelling of the Franks' story

By Sydney Brown

National Geographic has a new historical drama called "A Small Light."


6/3/2023, 7:30pm

Review: Sleep Token's 'Take Me Back To Eden' is a masterpiece


6/6/2023, 8:00am

At least...


Podcast


4/27/2023, 11:33am

Eastern Echo Podcast: Editor-in-Chief Layla McMurtrie Signing Off


3/2/2023, 11:36am

TheBlockE Podcast: Episode 12 - MAC Tournament Controversy


2/18/2023, 4:41pm

TheBlockE Podcast: Episode 11 - WHAT'S GOING ON?!


2/12/2023, 2:39pm

Echo Interviews: Kings of Color President Dylan Hughey discusses Black History Month


Tweets by TheEasternEcho
Eastern Michigan Echo To Homepage
  • About
  • Jobs
  • Freelance
  • Submissions
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Distribution

All Rights Reserved

© Copyright 2023 The Eastern Echo

Powered by Solutions by The State News.