Forgotten Harvest: New Headquarters & A New Vision
By Mary Meldrum
FORGOTTEN HARVEST IS CELEBRATING THEIR NEW HEADQUARTERS AT 15000 8 MILE ROAD (at Hubble, a quarter-mile east of Greenfield). The new campus is a 78,000-square-foot purpose-specific building large enough to bring all their employees under the one roof. The warehouse will have ample space to house, sort and refrigerate more fresh nutritious food for Metro Detroiters. Chris Ivey has been with Forgotten Harvest since 2018, helping to make sure no one in Metro Detroit needlessly goes hungry. Chris’ daily responsibilities include marketing and communications both internally and externally for Forgotten Harvest. He also recruits volunteers and works with the Development Department as they do fundraising for the organization.
“This new warehouse will have volunteer opportunities for approximately 60-70 people a day. We have two ways Forgotten Harvest accepts food.” One method is receiving large bulk loads from distributors and manufacturers. They also have their grocery trucks, the smaller box trucks that travel to Kroger, Trader Joes, Meijer’s and Costco where they rescue nutritious food from those organizations. This includes the “seconds” or the ugly or bruised fruits, which are all still edible, just not the prettiest.
Chris goes on to explain the new warehouse: “Right now, the grocery rescue is picked up in morning and delivered in the afternoon. With the new model, all the food will be brought into the new warehouse, sorted by food type and mixed more equitably at every distribution site with the larger bulk loads, so they can be delivered daily in a more equitable mix of food types to every location. This will result in a more balanced plate for everyone receiving our services,” explains Chris.
“Right now their distribution network looks very balanced, but if you look down the line, not every distribution place gets the same type of food. Forgotten Harvest is a large organization and reconfiguring the distribution process is a big job. The goal is to make sure each delivery site gets a balanced nutritional plate. We don’t order our food. We get what we get. Right now, we will have a lot of potatoes, onions and things like that. With the new model we will have a better variety and deliver the right food at the right pace at the right time.
“WE SHOULD HAVE THE WHOLE STAFF UNDER ONE ROOF by next Summer. The pandemic proved that the access and distribution network is very fragile because it’s led by volunteers. The access points to the services we provide are the biggest challenge. To have a distribution point in every neighborhood is the need and our goal.”
As Chris explains, “We can’t make it sustainable, and then all of a sudden we’re not there. We have to set it up to keep it up, once a community starts to count on us.”
The other challenge is volunteers. Fortunately, last year Forgotten Harvest had over 13,000 volunteers who gave 55,000 volunteer hours. They always need more and look to corporate, church groups, youth groups, etc. to help out.
When asked about his vision for Forgotten Harvest, Chris shared that “A peek into the future of the organization has me super excited. Our strategic plan will be Board-certified soon. Next June we will be into the new building. It’s a sense of excitement for where we are going.”
Chris is a long-time Metro Detroit resident and the father of two daughters, one in college in Michigan and one a junior in high school. Chris takes advantage of as much of Michigan’s offerings as he can.
Forgotten Harvest
21800 Greenfield Road, Oak Park, MI 48237
Phone: (248) 967-1500 | Fax: (248) 967-1510
