The food rescue nonprofit Forgotten Harvest is working to harvest 1 million pounds of food by the end of the year.

Mike Yancho, the farm manager at Forgotten Harvest Farms, has been working at the farm for 13 years. He says farm staff till and prep the fields, but most of the planting is done by volunteers.

“There’s not a lot in the vegetable world that can be harvested by a machine, and so we do a lot of hand harvesting,” he explains. 

Last year 3,100 volunteers came out to the farm. Yancho says volunteers plant, weed and harvest plants. 

Lori Setera, assistant farm manager at Forgotten Harvest Farms, says several crates have already been filled.

“We’ve already loaded the trailer once and sent it back in with seven crates of cabbage. Those crates run anywhere from about 750 to 950 pounds,” she says. 

The farm’s funding comes from grants and donations. Setera says the space is donated by a previous board member.

“She leases it to us for $1 a year… the farm property itself is about 1,500 acres. But we only farm 100 of that, and then they lease out to other farmers in the area,” she explains. 

The farm supplements healthy foods people need or request, like hot peppers, which are popular. 

“I think about 20 different crops, and our main, our total harvest goal this year is about a million pounds. So that’s taking everything, you know, the cabbage, the corn, the broccoli, everything, and adding it up and getting to a million pounds,” she says. 

Soon they will plant carrots and spinach in a greenhouse to harvest later in the winter months.

Volunteer harvest

Abu Bangurah came out with his company, Midland Credit Management to help out. 

“Trying to save some cabbages from some pesky raccoons, one cabbage at a time,” he laughs. 

This year the cabbage has a disease. Volunteers strip away the outer affected layers.

Deborah Mahomes is also with Midland Credit Management. She comes out every year with her children and grandchildren.

“Last year we planted broccoli, and then we always planted zucchini, zucchini, lots of zucchini. We’ve done that several times. It’s just every year is something different,” she explains.

Mark Eskola is a senior trainer with ITC Holdings Corp., which manages high-voltage power lines in Southeast Michigan. He’s putting a cabbage in one of the large bins.

“I’ve never done this before, so it’s awesome to be working with all these other volunteers today, and it’s been a lot of fun,” he shares. 

Eskola says it was an opportunity to give back.

“This is all about helping people who are hungry and need food, so that’s why we’re here today, just to help people out,” he says. 

Steady progress

Yancho says the farm grows produce with plastic mulch , using drip irrigation tapes. “It’s a super efficient way to water the crops,” Yancho says.

Setera says the food grown in the field goes to the Forgotten Harvest warehouse, where it’s later dispersed.

“Mostly our stuff here goes farmers market style, just how you see it here in these crates. A lot of our brick-and-mortar pantry partners don’t have the equipment or the space to store these giant crates, so most of our things go to the mobile pantries,” she says.

Yancho says the food is the highest quality.

Volunteers were harvesting the food on a Thursday afternoon, but Yancho says the food could get to people in days. 

“Well, one thing that we know about the food that comes from the farm is it’s the freshest of the fresh. The cabbage that’s being picked today will leave here tomorrow, and it could be on somebody’s plate as early as Saturday,” he explains. 

Setera says volunteers harvested over 10,000 pounds of cabbage that Thursday.

“It’s really important for us, for everybody, to know what the weight is of what they harvest because one pound equals a meal,” she says. 

And for families in need, that could make all the difference.

Hamtramck’s last mayoral election is still disputed.

A judge has ordered that the 37 absentee ballots found in the former city clerk’s office must be counted, despite a year-long legal battle. The candidates are former Hamtramck city council member Muhith Mahmood and current Hamtramck Mayor Adam Alharbi.

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers originally decided not to count the 37 ballots, which were turned in days after the election.

Alharbi’s attorney says they are ready to challenge the ballots, even if they end up being counted, according to WXYZ.

They also plan to continue challenging Mahmood’s residency, despite a Wayne County judge dismissing a lawsuit over his residency last December.

Additional Headlines for Monday, Oct. 5, 2026

Forgotten Harvest hopes for 1 million pounds of food before year’s end

Forgotten Harvest is hoping to harvest 1 million lbs of food by the end of the year to feed people in need.

Lori Setera is the assistant farm manager at the Forgotten Harvest Farms in Fenton, Michigan. She says a pound of food is equal to a meal.  

“Our food here goes farmers market style, just how you see it here in these crates. A lot of our brick-and-mortar pantry partners don’t have the equipment or the space to store these giant crates. Because of that, a lot of it ends up in mobile pantries.”  

The farm supplements nutritious foods the organization distributes. They grow about 20 different crops such as cabbage, corn, broccoli, and peppers.

Around 3,000 volunteers are needed annually to help plant, weed and harvest food. Forgotten Harvest Farms still needs more volunteers to meet their goal this year. 

Virtual summit addresses race-based medicine

The Collaborative to End Race-Based Medicine-Detroit and Wayne State University’s Office of Inclusive Excellence are hosting a virtual summit about race-based medicine.  

The National Institutes of Health defines race-based medicine as “treating race as a biological or genetic trait rather than a social construct.” This leads to misdiagnoses and poor health care outcomes for minority patients—especially for those in the Black community.  

The collaborative is made up of international clinicians, legislators,  industry leaders and community members working toward ending race-based medicine through education, research and advocacy. 

Panelists at the virtual summit will discuss how bias shapes health care and public health in an age of artificial intelligence.

They will talk about how technology can help identify bias and potentially prevent harm.  

The “Held to the Light: Race, Code & Consequence in the Age of AI” event takes place Oct. 29 from 3 – 5 p.m. Register for the event here.

InterFaith Council 

The InterFaith Council of Metropolitan Detroit is hosting a program highlighting coming-of-age traditions.

The Rites of Passage Coming of Age Across Religions event will feature a bar/bat mitzvah, a confirmation, a Hindu tradition and a Muslim rite of passage.

The program will talk about what it means for family, faith, identity and belonging.

It will be held Thursday, Oct. 8 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the North Congregation Church in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The event is free with registration.