Fraser, Mi – Hope Center in Macomb is proud to announce that it has distributed 2,000,000 pounds of food to Macomb County residents.  Since beginning operation in June 2010, Hope Center has partnered with Gleaners Community Food Bank and Forgotten Harvest to provide perishable and non-perishable food to those in need in Macomb County.

In its nineteen months of operation, Hope Center has hosted 24,000 client visits representing nearly 65,000 people served.

Hope Center is a client choice pantry which is a best practices model of Feeding America, the nationwide food network, of which Gleaners and Forgotten Harvest are the regional affiliates.   The client choice model allows Hope Center clients to select food from the supermarket style pantry as opposed to receiving a pre-packaged box of foodstuffs.  Feeding America’s survey found that up to 50% of the food in a pre-packaged box would be thrown away due to food preferences or dietary restrictions, whereas, the client choice model minimizes wasted food because the client selects the food from the pantry that they know their family will eat.  Thus, the client choice model is a very effective and efficient means of distributing food.

In addition, Hope Center partners with a wide-array of other non-profit service providers to house a “one-stop” shop of human services.  Currently, eighteen additional services including housing services, assistance with Department of Human Services applications and free income tax preparation for low income families are offered in addition to the pantry.

Hope Center is located in Fraser at 33222 Groesbeck Highway.  Appointments for a pantry visit or to access other services can be made by calling (586) 294-4673.