DEARBORN — Gleaners Community Food Bank will provide free meals for children and adults with special needs at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, as part of its Summer Food Service Program, beginning in early July.

The Ford Community and Performing Arts Center meal distributions will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. on July 7, July 21, August 4 and August 18. More details on the meals can be found further down in this article.

Dearborn is just one of many sites that will meet the needs of children or special needs adults aged 19-26 across southeast Michigan. The program will complement Gleaners’ food distribution programs through its more than 500-member partner network, emergency food distribution sites and emergency food box delivery programs to meet the increased need of families during the COVID-19 crisis.

These are the different ways Gleaners will be implementing emergency food services in southeast Michigan. Note that Dearborn is selected as one of the meal distribution sites for the program: 

Meal sites: These 21 sites will be offered in two formats: Providing take-home or onsite nutritionally-balanced, pre-prepared breakfasts and/or lunches. The take-home model allows families with children to pick up the pre-prepared meals once or twice weekly, using a drive-thru set-up. Onsite meals are provided while children are engaged in scheduled programming (such as summer camps or daycare facilities) at each site, with safety protocols in place.

Grocery sites: These 41 sites provide fresh milk, fruits, vegetables, lean protein and shelf-stable items to supply enough food for children to have multiple breakfasts and lunches prepared by their families in their own homes. Groceries are provided in a drive-thru set-up.

Mobile Delivery sites: These 28 sites will provide families with lunches five days a week, delivered by refrigerated truck at pre-scheduled times to low-income housing neighborhoods. Parents or siblings can pick up the daily meals from the trucks for children in the household.

Gleaners volunteers sort food at the corner of Joseph Campau and Holbrook Avenue in Hamtramck.

“Every child deserves a hunger-free summer and this year the need for our work to get food into the community is even greater,” said Gerry Brisson, president and CEO of Gleaners. “Children have been without access to school meals since mid-March and without dedicated summer food programs, many kids in our community would spend the summer wondering where their next meal will come from. Gleaners is dedicated to being a stabilizing resource for our kids.”

To support Gleaners’ summer food distributions, community members can donate to the Hunger-Free Summer Plus campaign, in which all donations are matched by Citizens Bank and other donors. Donations can be made securely online at www.hungerfreesummer.org or by mail to Gleaners Community Food Bank (P.O. Box 44050, Detroit, MI 48244-0050). Checks should include “Hunger Free Summer” on the memo line to ensure the donation is matched.

Besides the meal giveaway, Gleaners will also host free drive-through grocery distribution events for households with children in the parking lot of the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center. Food items will include milk, fresh fruit, vegetables, lean protein and other self-stable items. More details on those events can be found here: https://dearbornfordcenter.com/classes-and-sports/2016-05-04-14-34-15?fbclid=IwAR0hCl4ScicLftvNWegXnYbrlIppa910r4RcYgmw2JAu7t6Tb-Ny1PTqsVw