Forgotten Harvest sees 30 percent increase in food demands for those in need

FOX 2 - The mission at Forgotten Harvest is fighting hunger and food insecurity.

"As the pandemic hit we lost out on some of our corporate volunteer partners, and we’ve seen a lot of them come back - but not entirely," said Chief Operating Officer Mike Spicer.

The cold weather blast this winter has also impacted volunteer efforts.

"We’ve noticed that we have a lot of no-shows the colder the weather gets," he added.

The lack of volunteers comes as more in the community are seeking help - Spicer said there is a 30 percent increase.

More volunteers are needed to help meet the demands of the packing and distribution of food to those in need.

"We have approximately 250 volunteer opportunities a week, today," he said. "In the next few months we will be launching our new campus which is off of Eight Mile, and we will need even more volunteers."

Those who answer the call to volunteer will see that safety protocols are a priority.

"We have pretty stringent cleaning protocols, we do some electrostatic cleaning once a week here at all of our facilities, we provide PPE, and we are very diligent about social distancing," he said.

If you would like to learn how you can make a difference go to forgottenharvest.org

"We shut down, we cannot operate without our volunteer partners," he said. "In order to do what we do for the community, we rely on our volunteers to help."