Business & Economy

Rescued food feeds the poor

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By KAREN HOPPER USHER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Trucks carrying some 40,000 tons of cherries will drop them off this month in Cadillac to fill food bank shelves in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. It’s part of a statewide effort to reduce food waste and put it to use feeding poor people. “The state is one of the winners when hunger comes off the table,” said Phil Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan. Flawed and ideal vegetables are held back from the grocer’s shelves and your dinner plate. Industry marketing agreements among growers mean some ideal or “type one” fruits and vegetables are not sold during years where the harvest is strong.

Health

Push on for more children’s health centers

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By DANIELLE WOODWARD
Capital News Service
LANSING — The Department of Community Health is pushing for a program that would expand health centers for poor children to also treat mental illness. Department and child health center officials are pushing for a $2 million expansion of the program, which has been around for 25 years. This expansion would create new health centers that offer individual and family counseling, screening for mental disorders and prevention services for suicide and bullying, according to department officials. The centers would treat youth with disorders such as mild to moderate depression, high stress or anxiety, body issues and anger management. There are currently not many resources for those problems, said Carrie Tarry, manager for adolescent school health programs at the Michigan Department of Community Health.