Sack Suppers

Michigan Nightlight: In your view, what makes your program innovative, effective or remarkable?
Kids’ Food Basket Operations Manager Jane Berkey: We attack a major problem in our community using a simple formula. It is not a secret formula, but it’s a very successful one.
 
We identify children with the help of school staff (social workers, nurses and instructors), and our fund development team secures our money: grants and donations from foundations, individuals, corporations and more.  We procure our foods by

The battle versus human hunger is never ending. Every time we take a school off our waiting list, another one is added. It's frustrating because it never ends, but we just have to learn to accept this and not let it get us down.

approaching food brokers and grocery stores for donations or good pricing, but about 60 percent of our food comes from Feeding America West Michigan. We purchase it there for about 16 cents a pound.
 
The volunteers that make this happen come to us through word-of-mouth, mostly, and that really speaks for the people of West Michigan -- they are very, very generous with their time.
 
What was the best lesson learned in the past year?
That this model we use here can work anywhere. We opened our first satellite this year in Muskegon, and the response is very good. We just took what we have learned in Grand Rapids and put it to work there.  We’ll be feeding over 500 kids this school year in the Muskegon Heights Public Schools -- one elementary school for sure, hopefully two.
 
But before we even went to Muskegon, we had key people -- foundations and other companies -- that approached us to come. They were the catalysts. They brought funding and tremendous volunteer support to start with. We are running it from a church right now, and I expect to stay there for a couple of years before we outgrow it and look for our own facility. That’s the way it happened in Grand Rapids.
 
In the next year or two, we hope to be able to start another satellite, possibly in the Holland area.
 
What was the hardest lesson learned in the past year?
It wasn’t really a lesson, but more of an acceptance.
 
The battle versus human hunger is never ending. Every time we take a school off our waiting list, another one is added. It’s

Most agencies will not allow kids under age 16 to volunteer. We allow anyone from Kindergarten on up to help out with their families because even the smallest child can decorate lunch bags or assemble trail mixes.

frustrating because it never ends, but we just have to learn to accept this and not let it get us down. You just keep plugging along. Everyone involved can see that they are making a difference with the Sack Suppers, and that is fulfilling to them. Everyone is realistic -- they are not looking to end it all [childhood hunger] in a year, because that is not going to happen.
 
But they are doing all they can -- just for today.
 
What really differentiates this program?
The volunteers that come each and every day to make the Sack Suppers happen. We have close to 175 volunteers each and every day that range from five years old to over 90 years old. Most agencies will not allow kids under age 16 to volunteer. We allow anyone from Kindergarten on up to help out with their families because even the smallest child can decorate lunch bags or assemble trail mixes.
 
It’s just great for kids. A lot of them realize that they are helping a child that is their own age. That’s when it clicks for them. That’s when they really get it.
 
We have Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop volunteers, elementary and high school classes, church youth groups, home-school groups, corporate groups, everyone. We offer many off-site projects that are just as important to make this program successful, too. There are opportunities for anybody of almost any age to get involved.
 
What are the keys to success for your program?
Community involvement: time and money. Realizing that we all have something to give, whether it be time, talent or treasure. We have regular volunteers who come alone or in groups, sometimes monthly, sometimes weekly, sometimes giving up their lunch hours to make or deliver sack suppers. Companies, churches, and individual groups do food drives for us. Some hold third-party events, like golf outings, Christmas-in-July events, talent shows, that kind of thing. Bands give concerts to benefit our program and local restaurants do a lot for us.
 
How does your program organize the resources needed to make it happen?
We have independent staff and departments that work really hard in their areas of expertise, like fund development and operations, to glean the resources that we use in the most effective manner possible.  They encourage the food drives, they get schools involved, and they make sure we manage our volunteers effectively.
 
They are all a part of this big picture. Many of them are doing behind-the-scenes work, so they don’t always get the credit, but without them, if we didn’t have all of these people working toward the same goal, we would not have a program.