How CARES of Farmington Hills, Michigan, responded to the COVID-19 pandemic
subject: covid-19, Pandemic, food pantry, Michigan, Food Donations
description: First paragraphs: CARES of Farmington Hills (Michigan) is a front-line food pantry that serves nine cities. CARES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Prior to the COVID-19 pan­demic, the CARES office included a large meeting area, clothing room, and the food pantry. Before the pandemic arrived, it was a client-choice, self-serve food pantry set up like a grocery store that is available to those in need in the service area. The pantry was open five days a week, and shopping was available by appointment. Each guest can visit the pantry once each month, and no guest is ever turned away. If a guest is not in our service area, they are offered an emergency bag that con­sists of enough food for a couple of days and are given a list of food pantries near them. At the beginning of the pandemic, we were serving 400 to 500 families each month. When the pandemic struck, the client-choice pantry and other areas in the building were cleared out to allow pallets of food to be stored so they could be used in a bag-packing process. The entire distribution process changed to a drive-up system, where carts of food were unloaded into each guest’s trunk with no personal contact. We were complying with the recommendations of a variety of health organizations throughout the region and state by doing this. . . .
creator: Thomas Schoenfeldt
source: Epidemiology and Health
publisher: Korean Society of Epidemiology
date: 2020
coverage: Agriculture, Environmental sciences, Geography. Anthropology. Recreation, Technology, Social Sciences, Nutrition. Foods and food supply, Recreation. Leisure, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology, Regional planning, Communities. Classes. Races, Human ecology. Anthropogeography, Home economics