City of Detroit, Project Isaiah, Bank of America Provide Meals

The City of Detroit has increased the number of free meals offered to city residents through a partnership with Project Isaiah, a non-profit founded to preserve food service jobs by providing meals to organizations in need. After starting with 5,000 during a trial the City of Detroit will now provide 7,000 additional meals per week to families in need. Approximately 4,000 of those meals will be provided to individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 ensuring that they have the resources necessary to shelter-in-place.

Since launching in Detroit on April 11, through a grant funded by Bank of America, Project Isaiah has provided more than 100,000 meals to residents through partnerships with the Detroit Area Agency on Aging, Forgotten Harvest, and Salvation Army of Michigan. The meals are being prepared by Gate Gourmet, one of the nation’s largest airline catering companies. Project Isaiah hired Gate Gourmet to produce the meals, saving local jobs and allowing their state-of-the-art airport kitchens to be used to fill a growing food need.

“No one should have to worry about food during a global pandemic,” said Michael S. Klein, the chairman of Project Isaiah. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Bank of America and the City of Detroit in this important effort. We all win when everyone stands together. ”

The distribution effort to support COVID-19 positive patients is bringing together for-profit, government and philanthropic partners to reduce the spread of the virus.

“As we move through this crisis, it is absolutely critical that we as a City meet the needs of our citizens and one of the most basic needs is access to quality food, said Alexis Wiley, Chief of Staff, City of Detroit. “The team at the City of Detroit Parks and Recreation Division has led the way by creating a network of innovative programs to meet the growing needs of our citizens and we cannot thank them enough for their extraordinary hard work and leadership”.

Detroit Parks & Recreation will use this support from Project Isaiah and Bank of America to build infrastructure to increase the city’s impact and reach more families in Detroit. With the additional funding support, Project Isaiah is now able to provide more than 30,000 boxed meals per week to Detroit residents.

“During these extraordinary times it is abundantly clear that creative solutions are required to address human needs during COVID-19,” said Matt Elliott, Michigan Market President, Bank of America. “The launch of this program is a solution equal to the creativity of one of America’s greatest cities. We thank and salute Project Isaiah and are pleased to support their efforts right here at home in the Motor City.”

“This partnership provides us with additional resources to support critical food distribution in Detroit,” said Erin Casey, assistant director, Detroit Parks & Recreation. “With Project Isaiah and added organizational partners it ensures we reach a broad net of Detroiters during this pandemic.”

For schedules & locations and real-time service updates, visitwww.detroitmi.gov/food.