On April 10, 2012, the annual Food Gatherers Fundraising Drive kicked off at Community High with a presentation by representatives from the organization and Ozone House. Every year, forums and individual student groups come up with creative ways to raise funds for Food Gatherers, a non-profit organization providing food rescue and a food bank for Washtenaw County. Food Gatherers provides food for 150 non-profit organizations in the area to help meet needs. Mary Schlitt, the Director of Development at Food Gatherers, spoke at the kickoff presentation in Craft Theater on Tuesday. Schlitt has worked with the CHS fundraiser in the past and could testify to the effect CHS’s fundraising has had. “You’ve help Food Gatherers distribute 5.25 million pounds of food in Washtenaw County…every dollar matters because every dollar provides three meals,” Schlitt said. Food Gatherers’s main focus is on providing a food bank for those in need; the organization does not focus on directly distributing meals. “We’re the middle man. We hand it over to them and they do the important job of distributing,” said Schlitt. Food Gatherers does distribute at the community kitchen in the Delonis Center, where students and community members can volunteer to help.

One of the organizations which Food Gatherers provides food for is Ozone House. Heather Steenrod, Development Director of the Ozone House, was also at the presentation to speak on behalf of the Ozone House’s involvement with Food Gatherers. Food Gatherers provides food for Ozone House so that Ozone House can distribute its funds for other aspects of their work. Since 1969, Ozone House has provided a safe shelter and continued support to thousands of runaway, homeless and high-risk youth. Ozone House operates three locations: two in Ann Arbor and one in Ypsilanti. Steenrod also reported that a volunteer recently started teaching Ozone House residents about organic food and food preparation.

Food Gatherers exists to relieve hunger and eliminate its causes in response to a growing number of residents who cannot afford meals on a regular basis. On April 19, CHS and Food Gatherers will reconvene to celebrate the fundraising drive and individual groups will report on their fundraising methods.