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Kids Food Basket expanding with Feeding Our Future campaign

Kids Food Basket

Kids Food Basket has been providing sack suppers to area school children in need making sure they don’t go to bed hungry at night. The need has been so great that the non-profit needs more space for preparing these meals. KFB has purchased property and kicked off a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign to make it happen.

From what is Grand Rapids city proper’s last remaining parcel of farmland located along Leonard Street NE will emerge from its 14 acres a new production and education facility.

“We’re out of space and we have 16 schools on a wait list for services. In fact, here in Kent County 28,700 children are considered food insecure. Everyday we’re serving 6,000 kids and that’s only 21-percent of the need. So we have so much more work that needs to get done.” From under a giant party tent Executive Director Bridget Clark Whitney explained the need with volunteers and community leaders in attendance, unveiling the Feeding Our Future fundraising effort.

“It is a $6 million campaign we’re up $4.7 million as of the announcement today” That's Scotty Kehoe with the DTE Energy and DTE Energy Foundation. “If you have a passion for serving the community, if you have a passion for Kids Food basket or if you just want to help children in the Kent County area, DTE Energy Foundation is prepared dollar-for-dollar to match the next $100,000.”

Jay Ertl is Kids Food Basket co-chair, “Not only is there room to grow and build a sufficient facility but the farm, the fact that we’ll grow cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers and baby bell peppers that will provide more volunteer opportunities for people to do farm production and to help us prepare the vegetables so that they can go right from the seed to the sack supper and can now be a nutritious, healthy supplement to those very healthy sack suppers.”

“Our work has been proven to improve academic score. Improve test scores and also decrease truancy, decrease sicknesses and decrease behavioral issues" added  Clark Whitney, "So, it’s not just that it’s a need to grow its actually irresponsible not to grow. When construction is complete, Kids Food basket will have the capacity to serve an additional 15,000 West Michigan school children.

Patrick Center, WGVU News.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.