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Creating a Community of advocates

We’re in This for the Long Haul

To pursue food equity is to pursue a local food system that adequately supports the needs of every person in the community. Food equity benefits our region’s economy, environment and collective health. 

In alignment with the United Nations World Food Programme, Kids’ Food Basket has adopted a research-driven, globally recognized strategy and tailored it to our local community using a two-pronged approach:

1. Immediate solutions: Increase access to healthy food and provide education for growing nutritious food at home.

2. Systemic solutions: Advocate for policies, programs and structural changes that benefit all members of the community.

Immediate Solutions

We address the immediate food needs of our most vulnerable neighbors by providing daily access to nourishing food that honors our local agriculture.

The state of Michigan is second only to California in the United States when it comes to agricultural diversity. We support this industry by sourcing as much produce as possible from local farmers, including produce grown on the KFB farms. Our environmentally friendly model:

  • Aligns with global anti-hunger strategy
  • Fuels the local economy
  • Increases awareness of local agriculture
  • Answers our community’s call for more access to nutritious food grown close to home

We team with a growing network of community partners located throughout Kent, Muskegon, Ottawa and Allegan counties to engage with schools, churches, food pantries and others to identify and reach under-resourced populations in our region.

Collaboration with both organizations and the communities we serve is key toward realizing a hunger-free West Michigan.

Systemic Solutions

We’re advocating for updates to government policies that will better meet the needs of our community.

KFB’s advocacy strategy seeks to inform and educate on three levels:

  • Federal
  • State
  • Local

We strive to use our voice to elevate the nutritional needs of all children to the forefront of legislative action on every level. We share our stories and Community Listening Session data with leaders in Washington, D.C. and Lansing, Michigan, to provide a nuanced understanding of food insecurity that is difficult to ignore. We host numerous officials in our facilities and farms, making the scale and depth of the need tangible. Our goal is to transform public servants into fierce advocates for real-world change toward food security.

On the local level, we provide data and educational tools our community can use to advocate for good food for all. Our goal is to inspire the thousands of people we interact with each day to join this food equity movement.

Advocacy Starts with Understanding

KFB has listened, grown and evolved to increase our understanding of both the root causes of hunger and how to provide effective, immediate relief of this unacceptable reality.

Hunger is both a symptom and cause of poverty, meaning hunger reinforces poverty and poverty reinforces hunger. 

To interrupt this damaging cycle, we must take action by improving the system. That’s where you come in.

What You Can Do

Volunteer – Help make a difference right in your community.

Get informed – Resources like Food Research & Action Center send weekly emails with timely updates about food insecurity and ways you can help shape policy.

Get weekly updates on what’s happening in the Michigan Legislature from the Michigan League of Public Policy.

Explore the latest statistics about child and youth well-being in your community and state from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Center.

Donate – Your dollars address the immediate need of our neighbors today while setting a foundation for a more equitable tomorrow.

Use your voice – Share what you’ve learned about food insecurity with your networks. When people understand, they care. When they care, they act.

This is just the beginning. Together, we can create a community of advocates to improve healthy food access for years to come.

Volunteer. Get informed. Donate. Use your voice.

How to help

Our Commitments

Engage

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Learn

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Nourish

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Grow

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