United Way Partner Program:

Through its Healthy Children Healthy Futures program, KFB will:

Nourish: Increase food security for 1,700 kids by delivering consistent, healthy food to children and families.

• Sack Suppers are ready-to-eat evening meals that are delivered each weekday to 1,700 kids at seven partner schools in Muskegon County. Each meal contains a serving of fruit, vegetables, protein, and a healthy snack.
• Break bags include non-perishable, nutritious food items, supplying critical nourishment for students to last through extended school breaks, and supporting children in returning to school healthy and ready to learn.

Grow: Increase healthy food access by growing and distributing fresh produce on its all-natural, sustainable farmland. KFB will connect students to the KFB farms by including fruit and vegetables grown on its land in Sack Suppers.

Learn: Use its facilities and farms as classrooms to foster a deeper understanding of where food comes from and why it is important, so children can develop the tools they need to make lifelong healthy choices.

• The Grow a Garden curriculum supports students in learning about plant basic needs, and how to start and maintain a home garden.
• The Healthy Habits curriculum supports students in becoming familiar with new tastes, learn about the nutrients in the foods they eat, and helps learners make informed choices about food.
• The Community Engagement curriculum supports students in learning how to contribute to a thriving community. This curriculum comes alongside children with lesson themes centered on engaging in community issues, generating community improvement ideas and activating their talents to facilitate positive change.

Engage: Intentionally invites and includes diverse perspectives to participate in solutions toward food security in West Michigan. Each day, volunteers fuel the KFB mission by preparing, packing and delivering nourishing food. Opportunities are available at every level of involvement – including, but not limited to, the day-to-day work of creating a Sack Supper, decorating brown paper bags and leading community initiatives.

Advocate: Strive to increase its community's understanding of food access, why it is important and what can be done to ensure good food for generations.

About Kids' Food Basket:

Kids’ Food Basket (KFB) is a Michigan nonprofit organized in 2002 to disrupt the social determinants of health for children by addressing immediate nutrition needs through healthy daily meals and ensuring long-term impact with food and nutrition education. KFB was founded when an elementary school principal found students in search of food after school. While seeking evening meal support for children, the principal found this to be a gap in the community. To fill that gap, KFB launched its flagship Sack Supper program to ensure every child has access to the nutrition they need to thrive.

Since 2002, KFB has delivered a nourishing after-school meal each weekday to children attending schools with low-access to resources, where 70% or more of the student population receive free or reduced-cost meals. KFB has grown from distributing 125 meals per day in 2002 to serving 10,000 after school meals each weekday in 2022 at 60 schools throughout Kent, Muskegon, Ottawa, and Allegan counties. In addition to meals, KFB provides thousands of servings of fresh produce grown on its farmlands to food pantry partners and nutrition education to classrooms. KFB nourishes kids daily, grows produce seasonally, fosters experiential learning in agriculture, engages community in the mission, and advocates for children and families experiencing food insecurity, meeting the demand for access to healthy food today and paving the way for systemic improvements to the food landscape of tomorrow.