GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—Mechanical contractor and fabricator Andy J. Egan Co. (Egan) presented Heartside Gleaning Initiative with the first donation from its $100k Community Giveaway on Friday. More than 200 West Michigan charities applied to receive one of ten $10,000 donations, which Egan is awarding as part of its Centennial Anniversary in 2019.

 

Heartside Gleaning Initiative empowers residents of the Heartside community to become healthier through increased access to healthy foods and nutrition education. The organization does this by collecting excess produce from farmers’ markets and transporting it to the low-income neighborhood of Heartside and surrounding communities for distribution to individuals, food pantries and free and low-cost meal programs.

 

“The current need for meeting food insecurity in our community is significant,” says Beth Jester, spokesperson for Egan. “Heartside Gleaning Initiative stood out to the committee as innovative in its approach to serving this need through the redistribution of surplus produce.”

 

With the donation, Heartside Gleaning Initiative plans to hire a part-time gleaning coordinator to increase the number of food pantry partners and distribution locations as well as to pack and deliver fresh food boxes to mobility impaired individuals. The funding will also be used to provide more nutrition, cooking and canning classes.

 

“We truly believe that everyone should have access to healthy food,” says Lisa Sisson, Chair of Hearthside Gleaning Initiative. “$10,000 will be used to increase our capacity to provide fresh, healthy food for many hundreds of low-income families in Grand Rapids.”

 

For more information on Heartside Gleaning Initiative, visit www.heartsidegleaning.org. Egan will continue to announce the area charities selected to receive a $10,000 donation each month through November. Recipients will be listed at www.Egan100.com, as well as on the company’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram pages. For more information on the Egan $100k Community Giveaway, visit www.Egan100.com or email egan100@andyegan.com.