Written content by Amanda St. Pierre • Videographer/photographer by Bryan Esler.
The Wege Foundation was pleased to support the construction of the new Kids’ Food Basket headquarters and its sustainable urban farm program.
Kids’ Food Basket was founded in 2002. Each weekday throughout the school year and summer, the organization provides equitable access to a healthy, balanced evening meal, called a sack supper, to local elementary children (ages 3-12) who live in food-insecure households. They currently serve 8,600 children across four counties in West Michigan.
The organization’s new headquarters and urban farm is located on Plymouth Avenue near Leonard Street on Grand Rapids’ northeast side.
Each day during the growing season, student groups and volunteers from the area come to the 10-acre chemical-free, sustainably-grown farm to learn about cultivating, harvesting, and providing fresh fruits and vegetables for our community.
Developing Urban Agriculture in Grand Rapids
Kids’ Food Basket’s urban farm and brand new LEED-designed headquarters was only a dream four years ago. As the organization began to consider how to best deliver on its mission to nourish children to reach their full potential, they began looking around the country to see what other organizations were doing.
“We learned that the most successful organizations were combining direct access to food, like our sack supper program, with education. We need to teach kids where food comes from and how to make life-long healthy food choices. We decided that this is how we would continue to grow,” said Bridget Clark Whitney, Founding CEO of Kids’ Food Basket.
Up until this point, Kids’ Food Basket had rented its facility. In the organization’s 17-year history, it had moved five times to accommodate growth in response to community needs.
They saw an opportunity to change this with the property at Plymouth and Leonard—the last remaining farmland in the City of Grand Rapids. After being farmed for over 100 years, the lot was vacant and for sale. In addition to land for farming, space was also available for a new Kids’ Food Basket headquarters. It was serendipitous.
“We embarked on our Feeding Our Future Campaign three years ago. The Wege Foundation’s grant was the first gift to this campaign. They stepped up and said we believe in what you are doing, and we want to get behind you,” said Afton DeVos, Kids’ Food Basket Chief Operating Officer.
In its first full growing season, Kids’ Food Basket served 87,000 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables from the farm. Another five tons were donated to local nonprofits, including Feeding America. Totals from 2019’s harvest are still being calculated as the farm continues to produce.
Growing Environmental Sustainability
“We know that kids are born with a sense of wonder and an affinity for nature. If properly cultivated, those values can mature into ecological literacy and ultimately into sustainable patterns of living,” Bridget said. “We’re so grateful for the leadership of the Wege Foundation in this space. From them, we’ve learned about environmental sustainability and the kind of organization we want to be. They’ve made us better.”
