KLF event

Looking for an event in Kalamazoo where you can learn more about saving the world? Look no further!

Join Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes and local philanthropic group, Social Charity Circle, for a casual cocktail hour to mingle and meet friends who are also interested in supporting the work of KLF in the community. Meet on the beautiful SkyDeck rooftop bar above Monaco Bay in downtown Kalamazoo on Thursday August 23rd from 5pm-8pm.

For a $10 donation, you will receive one drink provided by the Reedy Corporation. You’re more than welcome to stop by without donating if you’d just like to learn more about what KLF does. Call KLF at 488-2617 ext. 218 for more details.

Be the change. Make the difference. 

help kids in kalamazoo this summer!

Remember when I talked about Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes and how one of the greatest people ever, my best friend Kim, works there? Even though I featured them over a year ago, I still want to give you ways you can help them.

Did you know that one in four children live below the poverty level in Kalamazoo County and many aren’t sure when their next meal will be?

We can do something about that.

 

Help Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes feed 15,000 kids this summer through their Grocery Pantry Program and Weekend Food Pack Program. For every dollar donated during the Food is Fuel Kids Campaign, a child can eat for a day. Every penny and pound given this summer will help provide fuel, and hop, for a local child.

On Saturday, June 23rd from 10am-5pm at D&W Market Place on Romence Rd in Portage you can make a cash donation OR pick up some extra items will shopping and drop them off in the KLF truck on the way out. Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes will also provide grocery lists to help you pick out what they are most in need of.

Easy as that! You're going to be grocery shopping anyway, why not save the world while doing so?

Be the change. Make the difference.

last minute shopping

Are you one of those people who wait until the last minute to finish Christmas shopping? Are you out of ideas? Well you are in luck, my friend! Here are a few ways to finish shopping quickly AND save the world...

First, if you are in the Kalamazoo/Portage area and are shopping at Meijers you can participate in the Simply Give campaign to help Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes fight hunger. All you have to do is purchase a $10 gift card at check out and it will go to KLF for food purchases! You can do this through January 7th at the Meijer on Westnedge, the Oshtemo Township store or the Comstock Township store. 

Another simple gift you can purchase to save the world is a Global Hope Network International gift card. Whoever the lucky receiver is of the gift card can then go to the website and pick out an item to purchase for a family in need in Africa, Asia or the Middle East. Items range from a mosquito nets to water filters, and school supplies. 

Saving the world and Christmas shopping at the same time?! Awesome!

Be the change. Make the difference.

Empty Bowls

Remember Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes? They are the organization I featured in January (click here if you somehow missed all of that!). They are the local food pantry in Kalamazoo, and their Empty Bowls event is coming up!

Prairie Ridge Elementary School is hosting the annual Empty Bowls event on Friday, April 29 from 5:30-7:30pm for Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes. 

The public is welcome to come enjoy a hearty meal of spaghetti and garlic bread donated by Sodexo. They also will receive a child’s handmade bowl, and may participate in the silent auction of professionally made bowls. 

Admission is $5 per family. All the proceeds go straight back to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes. Click here to see a map of where Prairie Ridge is located.

ALSO, I will be collecting water bottles this week. I've decided to extend the deadline until May 7th as I have several bottles around the state to collect and count! So email me to arrange a time for me to get yours! We are at $285 right now....I know we can make it to $700!

Be the change. Make the difference.

the difference -- KLF :)

Good morning everyone!

I was able to go meet Kim last night for dinner and give her all of the food I collected for KLF. We met halfway between here and there--since I have to work today and couldn't go all the way home. But I wanted to show you some pictures of all the food!

Here it is in my living room--bagged up and ready to go :)

AND here it is in my car--completely filling up my trunk! I know my goal was to fill up my entire car, but I think filling up the whole trunk is pretty good too.

I also forgot to announce the winner of donating the most food! The winner is JACKIE :) as she donated pretty much all of the Target stuff you see! Nice work!

Please click here if you would like to go to the Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes website to make a donation or become a volunteer. I will be back in a day or so to start talking about the Harbor Humane Society!

Be the change. Make the difference.  

the difference

Well, since it's the last day of January, I suppose I should update you with how the food drive went this month :)

I am SO excited about how much food was donated! Here is what we did:

-33 cans of veggies and soup
-14 cans of fruit
-7 cans of meat
-5 jars of peanut butter
-3 cans of jelly
-6 boxes of cereal or oatmeal
-7 boxes of nutrition bars or pop tarts
-1 giant box of 50 fruit snacks
-16 juice boxes
-2 64oz juices
-6 packs of 4 puddings
-3 packs of 6 applesauce
-2 spaghetti noodles and sauces
-6 boxed desserts
-4 corn muffin boxes
-4 rice boxes

=119 items total! 

NICE WORK! 


I'm not sure how much of my car they will fill up, but I will post pictures when I load it all in. I'm meeting Kim this weekend to give all of it to her, so I will find out just how close we got to filling up my car!

THIS is how we made a difference this month. Nice work team :) In February I will be featuring the local animal shelter...so stay tuned next month!

Please don't let your donations end when I end my blog coverage on KLF! Visit the Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes website by clicking here and make a donation! The people of Kalamazoo need us. I'll keep you updated if they have any events in the future too!



Be the change. Make the difference.

the final week

There is about a week left until I meet Kim to give her all the food I've collected this month. I'm getting excited to count the final numbers--you guys have been doing great things :)

Here's a little bit more about the MFI!

The Mobile Food Initiatives are set up so when people come through the line, they can easily take what they need and move to the next table. 

Most tables have one item, such as a bag of potatoes, or a box of soup. The meat table and the baked items table were a little tougher for people to get by since they had all sorts of choices of both items for people to choose from.

Here's another entire family getting involved in the MFI at Kalamazoo Community Church. These girls were just adorable and were working so hard!

Did you know that in 2009, 44% of households served by the Food Bank of South Central Michigan had to choose between paying the utility/heating bill or buying food (FBSCM Hunger in America 2010 Study). Can you imagine what that would feel like?!

Please PLEASE take this time to visit the Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes website and make a donation! Or if you are anywhere between here and Alpena, I'll stop and pick up your food donation this weekend! Email me at spennerphotography@gmail.com

Be the change. Make the difference. 

love is this. this is love.

When it came to talking to people at the Mobile Food Initiative at Kalamazoo Community Church, I was more nervous than I thought I would be. I was worried about offending people somehow and I was nervous they'd all tell me to just go away.

Thankfully, Kim (my BFF and the Communications Coordinator at Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes ) was there to encourage me and push me along. Once I started talking, I was fine :) Thanks for your help, Cameo!

When people come in to get food at these Mobile Food Initiatives, they have to sign in and fill out a slip of paper which states their name and how many people they are getting food for. They have to carry this paper with them throughout the whole process, and then turn it in at the end. This is the way KLF keeps track of how many people they have served at each MFI. 


After they fill out their paper, and before the doors open to get food, the people all sit in the sanctuary area. This is where I got to get to know some of them. 

These two little girls were adorable, and so talkative. They were there with their mom and just as happy as can be.

You will get to see more pictures of the people I got to know in the next blog post. Since I had to have signed waivers of all the people in the photographs, I had to try and only take pictures of the people I met in line while everyone was getting food.


I'm not sure how to say this without sounding horrible, but I think the hardest part of the day was to hold back judgment. I didn't know what to expect to see when I got there, but I wasn't prepared for the variety of people that I found. I expected to see the "typical" poor person, but that was not the case.

There were college students, there were elders, there were families with kids. There were hundreds of people there. And while I was only able to talk to a handful of them, I couldn't help but wonder the rest of their stories. 

For example, the college girls, I assumed they saw a "free food" sign somewhere, and just came running. But then I caught myself and immediately felt awful because I DON'T know their story. Maybe they have a kid at home and do everything to take care of them first, including buying the child's food first...and came because there just isn't enough money left after providing for the child.

After that thought process, I tried really hard the rest of the day to just tell my mind to be quiet. Because the bottom line is that there were hundreds of people there in the middle of a blizzard because they needed food. 

I don't know all of their stories, and probably never will. Maybe they are taking advantage of it, but maybe they're not. I might not ever know that either. But if I have to choose between helping out with love, or not helping out because of my prejudgments...I'll choose love. Every time.

Stay tuned for more pictures from the MFI! Update on my food drive = 88 items of food donated so far! Nice work! 

Click here to donate to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes or contact me if you'd like to donate food!


Be the change. Make the difference.

KLF and the Mobile Food Initiative

The Mobile Food Initiative is something Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes started in June 2010. There are seven sites that hand out fresh produce and various food items year round. Anyone can come and get free food - no registration, no paperwork.

Since beginning in 2010, the MFI project has served 4,922 households. In food, that translates to 195,735 pounds of FREE FOOD given out.  

I was able to attend a MFI at Kalamazoo Community Church, where I got to meet some of the volunteers as well as the people being served. It was awesome to see this project in action!

 



All the food at a Mobile Food Initiative is brought in by KLF and organized so it's easy for the people to come through the line and take what they need. They have all sorts of things, from bags of potatoes and apples to bakery items.

 

 


There is also a volunteer or two at each station to hand out the food. Every single volunteer that I met was cheerful and upbeat, and genuinely excited to be there helping.

Even the teens who were in charge of helping people carry their boxes full of food were smiling while they did so :)

Camie is the coordinator for the Kalamazoo Community Church, which means she pretty much runs the show. And she does a fantastic job of it! Along with the others, always upbeat and cheerful, she was willing to step in to help anywhere along the line. She is also awesome because her whole family is involved in this project! 

Here she is with her mother, and her mother's mother. AND she also had TWO kids of her own running around, helping carry boxes. What an amazing thing to get the whole family involved with! 

Just got the numbers for how many people served on Saturday.... 874 individuals! Awesome!

I have more pictures to share with you, so stay tuned for more about my morning at Kalamazoo Community Church and KLF! Again, if you would like to donate canned goods, contact me at spennerphotography@gmail.com or click here to visit the Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes website to make a money donation!


Be the change. Make the difference.

KLF and the Weekend Food Pack Program

While I was on my tour at the Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes warehouse we came to a corner that had huge bins filled with plastic bags. Curious, I asked Kim about them and as she told me about them I realized that this was the saddest part of the tour.

Each bag is made up of nutritious food and designed to help kids survive the weekend. Since a lot of children receive free meals during the week at school, they are given these bags to help provide for them on the weekends as well.

They are passed out at local elementary schools to over 750 kids weekly.

Without food at such a young age, children can experience illness, growth stunts and developmental delays, inability to concentrate and learn new things. 

Regardless of what your views are on poverty (how people get there, why they can't get out, etc.) there needs to be action to help these kids. Whatever the reason is that a parent is in this situation should not determine the fate of their child. 

Please contact me at spennerphotography@gmail.com if you are interested in donating food to KLF this month! OR go to the Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes website (click here) to make a money donation. These kids need our help!


Be the change. Make the difference.

KLF & Nutrition

Each program that Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes creates is based around the USDA guidelines for nutrition.

The food pantry at the KLF warehouse

Each pantry is organized using four different colors, each symbolizing a different type of group:

Red = Protein
Green = Fruit & Veggies
Yellow = Starches
Blue = Extras

The different colors of tape divides the food groups

Volunteers at the KLF warehouse spend time sorting donations like these and dividing them to different food groups for each pantry.

Providing nutritious food is key. The effects of hunger can be devastating, causing illness, growth stunts, developmental and behavioral challenges, as well as infant mortality.

The other really amazing thing about KLF is that when someone visits a pantry, they get to choose what food they want to take. Sometimes, food banks just hand out boxes of food to people in need and don't take into consideration things like food allergies. The way KLF does it eliminates the potential for food waste, gives the person what they want and need most, and gives them the freedom to make their own choices.


In 2010, KLF served 86,812 people through the Grocery Pantry Program.

37,258 of those were children under the age of 18.  

Thirty seven thousand children.
 

A few of you have already committed to donating this month, so thank you for that. These are the places I'm going in the next few weeks - Saginaw, Chicago, Muskegon, Portage, Alpena, Grand Rapids - if you are in any of those places or in between, please let me know and I will come pick up your donation! OR click here if you would like to make a money donation to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes.


Be the change. Make the difference.

KLF - The Grocery Pantry Program

Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes has The Grocery Pantry Program, which assists the people of Kalamazoo in finding the nearest food pantry. 

Anyone in Kalamazoo County can call the KLF Call Center and they will be directed to the pantry site most convenient to them. This call requires no paperwork or qualifications, and they are able to go to that location the same day and pick up food. 

The KLF call center

This is the board that the call center uses to direct people to food pantries. When a location says "STOP" next to it, that means KLF has sent the maximum amount of people to that pantry that it can take in one day.

There are twenty six different pantry sites strategically located throughout Kalamazoo County. They are on or near bus routes or within walking distance to neighborhoods in need.

Each yellow dot is a pantry location

When the person gets to the pantry, they receive a four day supply of nutritious food based on the size of their household, which they get to pick out themselves.

The day that I toured KLF and saw the Call Center in person, I turned around and saw this -->



I was in shock.


This is my hometown. These are my people. And 522 of them received food assistance in one day. It's unbelievable. But it's real.



This is what $20.00 in food looks like :

Twenty bucks isn't much, right? Skip the Starbucks drive through four mornings this month, and use that money to buy food for KLF! It's that simple :) The food wish list item for January is Beef Stew, but you can buy any canned good or non perishable item (most of the cans pictured here were less than a dollar!)


I've decided to add a little bonus to my car challenge as well. Whoever donates the most food gets a gift card (place of your choice)! Email me at spennerphotography@gmail.com if you'd like to arrange a time for me to pick up your donation! Or click here to go to the KLF website and make a money donation.


Be the change. Make the difference.

Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes - Part I

Each month, I will be featuring a different non profit organization and encouraging you to support them with your time, donations, or spreading the word about them. For the month of January I will be talking about Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes!

Over Christmas, I was able to go on a tour of KLF and see what they are about. Their Communications Coordinator (and my best friend) Miss Kimberly Schoetzow gave me a tour and told me all about their organization.

 Here's what she had to say about her job:

"I originally took an interest in working at Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes because I wanted to be a part of a non-profit community organization. Kalamazoo is my home and Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes supports my home in a very basic yet crucial way. We practice non-judgmental values here – meaning anyone who needs food, can get food. That atmosphere of acceptance paired with my coworkers’ constant willingness to explore new ideas makes this a great place to come to every day."

Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes is a food bank "plus" that purchases and accepts food donations for people in Kalamazoo County, then distributes it in a few different ways:


Grocery Pantry Program: Distributes food to 26 local food pantries, all of which are run by volunteers

Mobile Food Initiatives: Gives people access to free food at seven different locations throughout the county--without registration or qualifications

Commodity Supplemental Food Program: Provides food to local elders, as well as mothers and their children in the community that do not receive WIC

Meal Support Program: Distributes food to local community agencies such as the YWCA

Weekend Food Pack Program: Provides food packs to local kids to help them get through the weekend

Throughout the month of January, I will be talking about all of these programs in more detail, as well as sharing photos with you from the KLF warehouse and their events!

One room of the KLF warehouse

SO, onto the fundraiser for KLF! For the entire month of January, I will be collecting food to donate. Sounds pretty simple, right?! The goal is to fill my entire car up with food for KLF by the end of January! I only have a Cavalier--I KNOW WE CAN DO THIS!

Please contact me if you are interested in making a donation, and we can arrange a time for me to pick it up!

Now I know some of my followers are far far away (Hi Travis!), so I encourage you to find your local food bank and donate this month! Generally, food pantries get all sorts of help during Christmas, but after that, food drives nearly come to a halt! Let's spread some love into 2011 :)

Be the change. Make the difference.

My first project -- Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes

So remember that best friend I mentioned in my intro...Kim? Well she's pretty much amazing. I've known her since first grade, where we were in Ms. Coats class together. She was pretty and always had the cutest outfits and ALL the American Girl dolls....and all the boys chased her on the playground instead of me :) Needless to say, I was jealous of the girl....but we became friends and have been ever since.

She is a caring and compassionate person, who I admire for many many reasons, but one of the biggest being what she does for a living. She is the Communications Coordinator at Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes, which is an emergency food network that distributes food to those in need in Kalamazoo. Despite being busy saving the world at her job, she has agreed to be my first organization to document!

In a later post, I will talk more about KLF--what they do, how they work, and how YOU can help. But for now, you need to know that the easiest way you could donate is right around the corner! It's called Round Up For Hunger and all you have to do is go out to eat at one of places listed below December 10th-12th (THIS COMING WEEKEND!), and add your donation to your bill. Just adding $1 to your bill will feed one person for one day!

Participating restaurants include: 
- Blue Dolphin, 502 S. Burdick - Kalamazoo, MI
- Bravo Restaurant and Cafe, 5402 Portage Rd. - Kalamazoo, MI
- The Craftsman Chop Co., 6905 Sears Dr. - Kalamazoo, MI
- Food Dance, 401 E. Michigan - Kalamazoo, MI
- Mangia Mangia, 209 S. Kalamazoo Mall - Kalamazoo, MI

OR these places will have a donation container available:
- Theo & Stacy’s, 5225 Portage Rd., 4311 S. Westnedge, and 234 W. Michigan
- The Wine Loft, 161 E. Michigan Ave.

More info, pictures and ways to help Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes to come! 

Be the change. Make the difference.