Over the past couple of years, we have seen how powerful the use of technology can be in our everyday lives. When the world shut down during the pandemic, mankind collectively learned what a privilege it is to gather face-to-face. However, isolation also spotlighted the fortune we all have of being able to use technology to interact, connect and communicate with each other.
At Kids’ Food Basket, we saw how technology helped our organization immediately pivot during COVID-19 to provide essential healthy meals to the children and families in our community who were deeply impacted financially. We relied on social media to help us get the word out about the critical need that was happening across West Michigan.
We had no idea, however, that our word was going beyond the region of West Michigan and spreading internationally.
On the Kids’ Food Basket LinkedIn page, we began seeing mentions of our organization from a woman named Alex. Alex was sharing photos of members of her company decorating brown bags – bags that were later mailed to Kids’ Food Basket for Sack Suppers.
The unique aspect of her posts, however, was the fact that Alex lived in Texas, and her company, Softchoice, was based in Canada.
Despite Kids’ Food Basket being dedicated to helping increase healthy food access to children living in West Michigan, the mission of nourishing children to reach their full potential resonated with Alex and her team. They understood how childhood hunger is not a West Michigan problem, or even a United States problem, but a universal one.
“I was researching organizations to give back to. Education has always been near and dear to my heart and when I saw Kids’ Food Basket’s mission and working with the local schools connecting with kids that struggle with food insecurity, it just kills me to think that there’s still a gap like that in our nation,” Alex said of deciding to get involved with Kids’ Food Basket.
A fan of art, Alex started giving back to KFB by decorating bags. She set a goal to do 100 bags a month. Seeing her collections online, people on her team started reaching out asking how to get involved. Since Softchoice employees were working remotely due to the pandemic, Alex arranged for virtual bag decorating volunteer sessions.
“The last time I did a virtual bag decorating event for employees, we had people from Atlanta, Chicago, Portland and Canada,” she said. “We just all draw bags together and then we mail them to Kids’ Food Basket.”
Decorating bags virtually became a way for the employees of Softchoice to gather despite not being physically together, all while giving back to a cause they are passionate about.
And all experience levels of decorating were encouraged to participate. “I tried to encourage people that you don’t have to be an artist at all. The vast majority of my bags are doodles or encouraging quotes or just stars and hearts,” Alex said.
Alex and her team at Softchoice have been decorating bags for Kids’ Food Basket for the past three years – with no plans to stop anytime soon.
“My direct team now schedules decorating time to break down the craziness of the day,” said Alex. “A bonus of this activity is now the parents on my team are bag decorating with their children on the weekend. So many have said it’s been a great introduction to volunteering and giving back.”
While not all superheroes wear capes, some hold markers. To date, Alex and her coworkers have donated over 4,000 decorated bags to KFB – 4,000 bags to be made into 4,000 healthy, nourishing meals.
Alex’s dedication to using her talents and technology to rally her coworkers around making a difference in the world proves that while we may not always be together, we are always connected: “Decorating a bag might seem like a tiny act, but if it is making a child’s day and helping them through whatever they might be going through at that time, it has the power to be a little slice of happiness or moment that can help. And all those small moments add up.”
This September, you can help us create ripples of joy in our community, just like Alex and her team!
