DETROIT — Gleaners Community Food Bank is launching its Summer Food Service Program, with some 69 summer distribution sites beginning the week of June 20.

The program will complement Gleaners’ food distribution programs through its more than 600-member partner network and community mobile distribution sites to meet hunger needs and food insecurity in Southeast Michigan.

The program will use both mobile and stationary sites to meet the needs of children 18-years-old or younger across Southeast Michigan. Starting next week, families can also find pre-prepared meals at stationary sites across the region.

Families can call 211 or go to pantrynet.org for ease of finding a location near them.

Mobile sites: Starting June 20, these 24 sites will provide children with lunch five days a week, delivered by refrigerated truck at pre-scheduled times to low-income housing neighborhoods.

Stationary meal sites: Starting June 27, these 45 sites will offer nutritionally-balanced, pre-prepared breakfasts and/or lunches on site. 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.

A Gleaners food distribution volunteer at drive-thru site in Detroit. Photo: Facebook/Gleaners Community Food Bank

To support Gleaners’ summer food distributions, community members can donate to the Hunger Free Summer campaign, in which all donations are matched by Citizens Bank and other generous 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.

Gleaners serves five Southeast Michigan counties: Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe. Last year, Gleaners distributed more than 71 million pounds of food to neighbors in need. Every dollar donated provides three meals and 94 cents of every donated dollar goes to food and food programs.

“Summer has always been a difficult time for families and children facing hunger. The loss of school-provided meals places additional hardship on already strained budgets,” said Gerry Brisson, president and CEO of Gleaners. “This summer, because of inflated costs for food, gas and other basic goods, we know far too many children and families in our community will not be hunger-free this summer without our help. Gleaners is dedicated to being a stabilizing resource for kids to get the healthy food they need to grow and thrive.”