It's hard to imagine just how great the need is for basic items such as food in our local area. Recently, the Macomb Daily published an article highlighting the need. Check out this excerpt from the article:

During the past nine years, there’s been a 254 percent increase in the number of people statewide receiving assistance for food — from 764,539 recipients in March 2002 to about 1.9 million people this March.

Data from 2001 — the year most people agree the recession in Michigan began — was not readily available online.

Oakland County has seen a 359 percent increase during the same time period, from 38,555 people getting assistance in March 2002, to 117,145 in March 2011.

In Macomb County, the increase has been the largest — 450 percent. In March 2002, only 29,308 Macomb residents were getting assistance for food. By March 2011, that number ballooned to 131,988.

The data is for the total amount of people benefiting from food assistance — for instance, a family of four is counted as four individuals receiving benefits, though only one family may be collecting the benefits for all four people."

Read that again. 132,000 residents need assistance with food in Macomb county! We're glad that Hope Center is working to end this problem in Macomb county and we want to thank you for being a part of the solution!