WEST MICHIGAN — We are going orange all this month for Kids Food Basket! The organization is trying to end childhood hunger across west Michigan through outreach, advocacy, education and more. Wearing orange is just one way to show your support. There are dozens of other ways to engage with your community through this organization. We chatted with President and Founding CEO, Bridget Clark Whitney about ways to give back during the month of March and beyond. She says, “Orange is the color of hunger awareness and there are so many reasons for food insecurity, but the bottom line is good, healthy food should never be a privilege good, healthy food is a right.”
One of the goals of Kids Food Basket is to get to the root of the problem and learn how best to solve it in our communities. "Here at Kids Food Basket, we are engaging our teachers, our families, parents in listening sessions all over west Michigan, understanding the barriers to food insecurity. How Kids Food Basket can best show up for our families, and how we can best show up for our community to ensure everyone consistently has access to healthy food.”
From advocates at the local, state and national level, to volunteers to donors, there are so many roles that continually need support. Clark Whitney says, "At kidsfoodbasket.org we have so many different ways there you, your place of faith, your work community, your family, you can show up for your neighbors. Learn about food insecurity and hunger, awareness and how you can get involved to ensure our west Michigan community is healthy and each and every one of our neighbors has access to healthy, nourishing food every day"
Once someone gets involved here, they tend to become a part of the family for good. "People keep coming back because this is a place of love. Each and every day. This is somewhere where radical love is happening or love in action. Each day our community members showing up caring for one another.” And, after 20 years of serving the families in our neighborhoods, Kids Food Basket hopes to continue to provide change through food, education and engagement - hopefully with your help. "Whether you're an advocate, whether you come in to volunteer if you're able to give a financial resource, if you take time to decorate a bag and share love. Each and every person here in our west Michigan community can make a tremendous impact. When we show up for each other we care for one another when we champion the causes, we care about that's how the world changes, that's how impact is made."
A great way to get started with the Kids Food Basket is with their Tic Tac Go Orange campaign. If you head to their website, you can download a tic tac toe board and start X-ing and O-ing the boxes. At the end of the month, the organization is having a drive-through celebration at all three of their locations - picking up donations and collecting the cards - and there are prizes involved. Head to kidsfoodbasket.org to learn more.
