Since April, 2020, the Michigan Mutual Aid Coalition (MIMAC) has provided free weekly grocery deliveries to folks in the Detroit area who struggle with disability, advanced age and a lack of accessible options for acquiring food. Between Covid-19, corporate price gouging (incorrectly termed “inflation” in the national discourse) and the decades-long project of pillaging public services for private enterprise, an insidious squeeze is put on Detroit’s working class. The deliveries are MIMAC’s way of providing relief to our class amid such widespread economic attacks.
MIMAC by the Numbers
Grocery deliveries range from individual to large family boxes, and average $40-$70 worth of food, effectively covering a 2-3 day period. Currently, MIMAC delivers to 40 households weekly from St. Peter’s Episcopal, where the organization is based. This benefits over 100 people per week, also including houseless folks that stop by the pantry. On average, a rotating group of 10 MIMAC volunteers out of a larger pool are active 48 weeks out of the year, which provides weekly savings of over $2000 across MIMAC delivery households and over $105,000 annually. As the ruling class seeks to starve out Detroit’s most vulnerable, MIMAC’s system is a cost-effective way to thwart it.
Expenses are also manageable thanks to St. Peter’s Episcopal in Detroit providing affordable rent, and their relationship with DTE allowing us to upgrade to new eco-friendly refrigeration this year. Between rent, utilities and van insurance, MIMAC members supply 90% or more of the $5100 annual base expenses, with another 10% from crowd funding and fundraising events. However, these aren’t the only costs of serving Detroit’s working class. There’s a lot of driving involved in grocery pick-ups and deliveries, costing fuel and requiring more frequent vehicle maintenance. A rough estimate of gas expenses would put it at $4000 annually, and across all drivers up to $10,000 in vehicle repairs and upkeep, both personal vehicles and the van. Adding another $900 for additional supplies like labels, paper, ink/toner, food storage containers and PPE, MIMAC runs on approximately $20,000 a year thanks to it being an all-volunteer outfit.
Putting the MIMAC expenses together with the aid output, the organization boasts a 5:1 value in community benefits over investment, and that’s taking the worst-case estimates for delivery boxes and vehicle expenses.
Food Acquisition
MIMAC contracts with two non-profit organizations: Food Rescue US and Metro Food Rescue to provide the bulk of the food for grocery boxes. Local farmers also donate surplus to help round out the deliveries and pick-ups, in addition to surplus donations from Detroit’s Capuchin monastery. As the food is donated to the non-profits in exchange for a tax write-off, MIMAC receives it for free and can focus organizational expenses on storage and transportation. This is where having a cargo van is particularly helpful, as some pick-ups can exceed 1,000 lbs of food, and weekly hauls average between 600-800 lbs.
The food itself is sourced from major grocery store chains such as Plum Market and Whole Foods, or the farmers at Oakland County Farmer’s Market like Steaks and Cupcakes, Penzein’s Produce, and Missy & Mel’s. Hauls like this provide a nutritious variety that help combat Detroit’s food desert problem, and give a little dignity back to those who receive them. It’s a lot easier to feel well when one eats well.
Food Storage
At the scale of MIMAC’s operations, it’s a logistical impossibility to store the food individually in volunteer’s homes. Thankfully, St. Peter’s Episcopal provides an affordable space to rent for the food pantry. All those hundreds of pounds of food line the shelves, three refrigerators and two chest freezers ensure it stays fresh. For those interested in starting up a similar operation, these supplies are essential:
– Grocery bags, both paper and plastic, and cardboard boxes.
– Label printers, pens and markers, for recipient addresses and dietary needs.
– Sturdy shelves for dry goods and toiletries.
– A wagon or dolly to help carry larger hauls from the van to the pantry.
– Tables to sort the food and check for spoilage.
– Garbage bags and a nearby dumpster for spoiled food.
Delivery Day
In terms of logistical ease, its best to focus one day per week on deliveries. As the pandemic is still ongoing, but with all government-provided protections removed, MIMAC has kept its “no-contact” policy on deliveries and volunteers are masked. This requires consistency in delivery times so that recipients only have to be home for a couple hours on delivery day. Timing is also important to avoid theft of the grocery boxes, a reported issue in the past.
On the volunteer side, deliveries provide an excellent opportunity to see how city funds are spent. While billionaires like Dan Gilbert and Marian Illitch receive hundreds of millions in public funds due to tax overassessment or pillaging from city libraries, neighborhood streets remain flooded for days after heavy rain, the roads still aren’t fixed and bridges remain incomplete due to contractor politicking. Volunteering with MIMAC can be a potent panacea to any illusions that corporate-backed politicians will govern in the people’s interests.
Surplus Distribution
Sometimes, MIMAC has more food than can fit in the boxes for deliveries. Its these times that community fridges, such as the ones on Field St. and at Bridging Communities are wonderful to have in the neighborhoods. Certain bulk items are also donated to (and from) comrade organizations like Food Not Class, Sisters on a Roll, Eastside Mutual Aid, Seward Sharing Table, EP FreeStore, Golden Quetzal, Hamtramck Mutual Aid, and our sister chapter in Flint.
In other situations, MIMAC sets aside surplus for our solidarity work providing food for other organization’s political events, fundraisers and especially strike support.
The Future of MIMAC’s Core Work
One of the biggest reasons MIMAC has focused on honing its methods for maximum efficiency and cost-effectiveness is because of the staggering need for food aid in the Detroit area. In 2017, the USDA estimated that the United States wastes 81.4 billion pounds of food annually, over 1/3 of the total food supply in the country. In 2021 Data Driven Detroit completed a study showing how this issue affects the city, with most neighborhoods in Detroit showing an increase or consistent level of food insecurity between 2014 and 2021.
As SNAP benefits and local pantries are active throughout the study, more work is needed to ensure everyone in Detroit gets the food they need. The Food Rescue model combined with the delivery system developed by MIMAC and the community fridge/food share programs (i.e. Seward Sharing Table and Food Not Class) would ideally exist as a city-wide function and disability benefit.
While the current political climate of unfettered fascism is unlikely to allow for food aid to become a regular job, MIMAC offers a vision of what comprehensive food aid could look like should that climate change. Currently, this organization is active two days a week, with shifts ranging from two to four hours to serve roughly 100 people. However, MIMAC members work full time on top of their volunteer hours. At four, 8 hour days, those same volunteers could become full-time employees and quadruple their hauling capacity by having two days of pickups lasting the whole day instead of just half. In turn, the increased supply could lead to a doubling in households receiving deliveries, but act as a comprehensive food supply instead of just 2-3 days’ worth. This would require additional group expenses, including more than one van and greater storage space. However, even a doubling of base expenses only puts MIMAC at $42,000 to operate. If each of ten employees received a minimum living wage of $40,000/yr ($25/hr + bonus/fuel subsidy), that would put the full expense at approximately $442,000 to ensure over 200 of Detroit’s residents facing the greatest struggle have quality food delivered to them all year.
If spending $2,210 per person to ensure food security annually seems steep, its worth noting the City of Detroit effectively stole $600 million in improperly assessed property taxes from Detroit residents. Just last year, the City of Detroit approved $616 million in subsidies for the Ilitch-Ross “District Detroit” project. Marian Ilitch alone carries a net worth $4.4 billion. Clearly the money is available to help a lot more than 200 Detroit residents, and the food is definitely available given more than 1/3 of it gets wasted annually.
This network of mutual aid organizers have ways of taking care of the people at the grassroots level, but it will never be fully sustainable while the ruling class is left intact. The working class must band together to drive them out and ensure a common prosperity for the people of Detroit and Southeast Michigan!
