It can be easy to forget at this point a time when families across the world weren’t getting squeezed by food prices that have only ever managed to seem to get more expensive. And with the Department of Agriculture projecting that food prices are going to end the year having gone up by another three percent in 2025, more and more people across Washtenaw County are becoming food insecure, which is why the Ann Arbor chapter of the women’s group Finding Female Friends Over 50 is taking matters in their own hands to help Food Gatherers. With Thanksgiving is in the rear-view mirror, they are preparing for the main block of the Holiday season by trying to get as much food as possible by December 13.
Debbie Gerard, an Ann Arborite who says she hosts a lot of the meet ups for the A2 chapter said, “that someone suggested ‘let’s do a food drive’ and so this has just taken off unbelievably.”
The group is establishing food boxes at participating businesses across Washtenaw County. Gerrard said you can drop off food at “the Bank of Ann Arbor’s Stadium Boulevard location, Holiday’s Restaurant, the Liberty Athletic Club, the Ann Arbor Art Center, Rocket Fizz, the Pittsfield Library, Westgate Library, Malletts Creek Library, Downtown Library, and two food drives at Pioneer (High School).”
“Liberty is committed to being a positive force in our broader community, and we run several donation drives throughout the year, including a coat drive, blood drive, and backpack drive,” Lea McGregor, the membership director at Liberty Athletic Club, said via email. “This year, in response to the growing issue of food insecurity, we chose to participate in the Food Gatherers food drive. Deb Girard is a Liberty member, and when she reached out, we were glad to partner with Finding Female Friends Over 50 to support this effort.”
Food Gatherers did not respond to a request for comment.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that between September 2024 and September 2025, the last month for which statistics are available, food eaten at home went up by 2.7% and food eaten out of the home went up by 3.7%.
We reported last May that Food Gatherer’s has seen the number of people facing food insecurity across Washtenaw County hit the one in seven mark, meaning that they reckon that they will have to generate $2.5 million and churn out 10 million meals this fiscal year to keep people from going hungry. And it is important to realize that the number of people needing food hasn’t just gone up from 12.5% to 14% this year—it also has an effect for ALICE Households.
This group of people defined by United Way stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed—they are working households whom do not fall bellow the poverty threshold, and indeed generally look and act like they are middle class. But in reality, they are keeping up a façade of economic normality and only barely keeping their heads above water, just one or two financial shocks away from financial disaster—a state of life that more and more Americans have found themselves in over the last few decades.
RELATED: Recent Report Finds Rise in Food Insecurity in Washtenaw County
United Way estimated in its most recently released data that 20,616 Washtenaw County households were below the poverty line in 2023. But on top that, another 36,247 households fell under the ALICE category.
Food Gatherers is the backbone of the public and non-profit apparatus across Washtenaw County to prevent people from going hungry. In addition to dropping off food at the drop off locations, you can find or donate food or money online, visit them at 1 Carrot Way, or call 734-930-0550.
If you would like to help but don’t have food to provide, financial donations are accepted by food gatherers. Finding Female Friends Over 50 is also accepting monetary donations via the QR code that they have on fliers like the one pictured at the end of this article.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
