Food rescue group seeks help getting NFL draft donations

Nushrat Rahman

The nonprofit Metro Food Rescue is looking for volunteers to help collect food for social service agencies as part of the NFL draft in Detroit.

Metro Food Rescue will pick up prepared and unserved food, drinks and snacks from vendors and catering in the NFL draft area until May 6. The organization anticipates rescuing enough food for as many as 30,000 meals — the largest single event Metro Food Rescue has worked with. The food will go toward area organizations addressing an increased need for food assistance.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to get a ton of really high quality, delicious food to the neighbors in need,” said Chad Techner, founder and CEO of Metro Food Rescue.

The NFL draft is to take place April 25-27 in downtown Detroit, drawing hundreds of thousands of people. Agencies near the NFL draft will receive the rescued food, Techner said. The organizations Metro Food Rescue partners with are seeing more people seeking food assistance, he said, after the end of additional pandemic-era benefits early last year and increased food costs. Most agencies continue to see high need, he said.

“The need is right next to the food,” he said about the agencies located near where the draft will take place. “So, we just need to be better about getting it where it needs to go. Food insecurity is a completely solvable problem. We have plenty of food.”

Metro Food Rescue has about 60 volunteer slots and has at least 40 spots open, as well as opportunities to help out partnering organizations. Volunteers can help load food and take items to agencies.

“We’re a small organization and we don’t have enough staff to do it on our own and so we really need the community to come out,” Techner said.

Last year, Metro Food Rescue picked up roughly 2 million pounds of food from 55 different locations, helping organizations like Volunteers of America.

In Michigan, there were about 1.2 million people facing hunger, including more than 282,000 children, according to Feeding America. Last year during the holiday season, metro Detroit organizations saw a spike in need stemming from the end of COVID-19 pandemic-era safety net programs, such as additional Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and higher food and grocery costs that hit families’ wallets, forcing them to decide among paying for rent, transportation, food and health care and leading to more people in pantry lines and soup kitchens.

To volunteer with Metro Food Rescue as part of the NFL draft, go to www.metrofoodrescue.com/nfldraft.

Contact Nushrat Rahman: nrahman@freepress.com; 313-348-7558. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @NushratR.