WRITTEN BY CAITLIN M. DEWICKI
What started as a small closet for food donations, has grown into an organization providing food and other necessities to nearly 19,000 people around the Metro Detroit Area.
Photo by Connor Rake Productions
Open Hands Food Pantry began collecting donations in 1982 with one principle in mind: “Hunger is real”. The packing and distribution process takes place at St. John’s Church in Royal Oak, where families are encouraged to participate in the program with no requirements necessary.
Photo by Connor Rake Productions
PACKING & DISTRIBUTION
On the first and third Fridays of every month, volunteers help organize and pack donations into designated breakfast and dinner bags. Each bag is then grouped into family sizes. Small families are considered to have 1-3 members, a medium family has 4-6, and a large family has 7+ members.
Once this process is complete, the bags are placed on a shelf and are ready to be distributed the following day. The first and third Saturday of each month, volunteers will distribute the bags to these families. The pantry distributes donations from 9 AM until 10:30 AM and by this time cars have already started lining up, waiting patiently.
Photo by Connor Rake Productions
Every car receives 1 breakfast bag, 1 dinner bag, 2 types of frozen meat from the pantry’s deep freezer, and some fresh vegetables from Open Hands’ Garden and Hoop House. This garden was added in the Spring of 2015 and has greatly improved Open Hands’ efforts.
““It’s a big thing for families to get fresh produce.” ”
Photo by Connor Rake Productions
GARDEN & HOOP HOUSE
Having a garden and hoop house allows those who are food insecure to gain essential nutrition into their lives. The garden consists of leafy greens such as kale, lettuce, swiss chard, and cabbage, as well as potatoes, peppers, and carrots.
While food drives are held with good intentions, they are often lacking items such as hygiene products, diapers, dog food, etc. Additionally, food products donated are typically nonuniform. This creates inconsistencies in the distribution process to families visiting the pantry.
Photo by Connor Rake Productions
SIMPLY GIVE AT
WOODWARD CORNER MARKET
The best way that people can help Open Hands is by donating their time or by simply giving monetary donations. When donating through Simply Give at Woodward Corner Market, customers purchase a $10 donation card at checkout. Once purchased, the donation is converted to a Meijer Food-Only Gift Card and donated directly to Open Hands Food Pantry.
Photo by Connor Rake Productions
““We’re really grateful for the Simply Give donation cards and appreciate Meijer’s partnership.””
This Simply Give program also includes Double Match Days where Meijer will double match every $10 card purchased, tripling the total donation to $30 per card. The next Double Match Day is Saturday, December 17th. Woodward Corner Market encourages their customers to "Simply Give" to those in need this holiday season.
Photo by Connor Rake Productions
RSVP to our Facebook Event for Simply Give Double Match Day so you won’t forget to stop by and donate to Open Hands Food Pantry!