Doing better for our kids.
Promoting Healthier Foods
Introducing our new Nutrition Matters initiative
There were 13,250 children in middle and high school who visited our 14 Emmet County School-based Youth Pantries in the 2023-2024 school year.
In our Spring 2024 surveys, we heard from our children: “More fruits, vegetables, beans, walnuts, and gluten-free, please.” To think that the kids told us that we needed to do something better! What an amazing and resilient children we serve.
When beginning our 2024-2025 school year, we had a goal to remove unhealthy choices for healthier processed foods, more fresh vegetables and fruits, and organic and gluten-free products. We will delete products with high salt, sugar, MSG, toxic dyes, & artificial ingredients. These children have learned to trust us; thus, we must do better and teach them Nutrition Matters, for food affects health, mood, brain, and energy in a powerful way to realize their dreams and ambitions.
Introducing NEW Nutrition Matters Initiative
We are excited that starting in January 2025, we will have access to Crooked Tree Art Center’s commercial/licensed kitchen on Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. for us to bake and repackage bulk items for healthy meals and snacks. We will follow the Department of Health Guidelines and packaging rules to ensure the safety and quality of our food products. Our primary goal is to buy and promote healthier foods.
We need your help!
We are currently seeking volunteers to assist on Thursdays with our repackaging efforts, and to take the items we cook/bake/repackage to youth pantries around 1:30 p.m. We also would love a few volunteers to help find the recipes and buy the food online. Whether you can help for an hour or all day – we would love your support!
