Restaurant Neighbor Award: 2007 Finalist
Michigan
Zingerman's Community of Businesses
When Zingerman's Delicatessen cofounder Paul Saginaw noticed the large amount of healthy food discarded at his deli each night, he wanted to make something good from the waste. Saginaw learned of a food photographer who rescued food from photo shoots and delivered it to homeless shelters, and he was inspired to do something similar. In 1988, Zingerman's founded Food Gatherers, a food-rescue program that retrieves nutritious food from area businesses and delivers it across Washtenaw County. Today, Food Gatherers is an independent nonprofit entity, and Zingerman's staff members support the initiative through Grillin' for Food Gatherers fundraiser each June, Rockin' for the Hungry food drive in December, and other events. Zingerman's publicizes volunteer opportunities to staff, who participate on their own time. Zingerman's has contributed $500,000 to Food Gatherers over the past 19 years, helping the agency distribute 3 million pounds of food to more than 100 nonprofit agencies.
