Food banks say they’re seeing more hunger and hardship in Detroit's suburbs this Christmas season.
“There’s been more demand (for food) overall, but it has also increased in suburban areas where you might not traditionally think you’d have an issue with poverty,” Anne Schenk, vice president of marketing and communications for Gleaners Community Food Bank, told Charles E. Ramirez of The Detroit News.
“We’ve seen tremendous increases in the need for emergency food in places like Macomb and Oakland counties.”
Based in Detroit, Gleaners has been helping feed the hungry in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe counties for more than 36 years. Last year, the group distributed more than 46 million pounds of emergency food to more than 550 schools, soup kitchens, shelters and pantries.
Jim Schmitt, president and one of the three co-founders of Help’s on the Way food pantry on South Beech Daly in Dearborn Heights, said he’s definitely seen an increase in demand. “It shot up after the recession and it’s never come down since,” he said.
