The Great Kindness Challenge is a national event created by Kids for Peace where everyone is asked to do just one act of Kindness to another Person on August 14th.
The Ionia Kids Club is celebrating 10 years of volunteerism and service to our local community.
Put those 2 things together and you get the Ionia Kindness Challenge at Krazy Acres Community Garden!
All Kids Club Members- past, present and future are challenged to bring friends and family members out for a day of supporting local community gardens and food pantries.
All local businesses are challenged to make a donation to this event! You can donate food, promotional items, gifts and prizes that can be used to thank volunteers for helping out in the community.
All local community members are challenged to make a donation to local food pantries! You can bring your donation out to the Krazy Acres Garden or give it directly to the food pantry of your choice. (Please let the food pantry know that your donation is part of the Great Kindness Challenge!)
Other interesting facts about feeding the need locally:
The Ionia Community Food Network is a group of 12 Community Gardens and 16 local Food Pantries working together to help get fresh, locally grown produce into the hands of families in need.
All the Community Gardens are located on donated land, planted and cared for by volunteers, and donate their produce back to the community.
While many local food pantries receive federal funds to help feed local families, they are still always in need of more. Often food pantries have to turn people away after the food runs out.
Our local food pantries have made the commitment to use the locally grown, donated produce from community gardens to encourage families to eat healthy meals. This means already overworked volunteers give even more of their time to prepare and distribute the produce.
In Michigan:
One in ten people are using emergency food programs.
Some children eat a free school lunch, but it is their only meal of the day. During the summer, many
children have no guaranteed source for meals.
Michigan´s Food Bank network distributed 77.3 million pounds of groceries to individuals in
2008 (The Ionia County Community Food Network distributed 34,155 lbs of fresh produce in 2009!)
Organizations that support the Ionia Community Food Network
The United Way & Volunteer Connections, MSU Extension-Ionia Office, MSU Master Gardeners, ENRICH of Ionia County, Ionia County Health Dept., Ionia County Intermediate School District, Krazy Acres Pumpkin Patch, WION Radio, Sparrow Hospital- Ionia, Duff, Chadwick & Associates, Maple Row Dairy, Pixel Tech Designs, Promo Print & Stitches 2, IoniaHost.com, SoZo's Coffee, Lowe's, and more.
Please consider supporting local community gardens by volunteering a little time. For more information contact ICCFoodNetwork@gmail.com.To view the national flyer click here
To view the local flyer click here
To view the Challenges check list click here
If you would like to make a donation to the Kindness Matters- The Great Kindness Kindness Challenge, contact the Ionia Kids Club at ioniakidsclub@gmail.com.
Please share this with your friends, family and co-workers that may be interested in supporting this project.
Penny Beeman, Ionia Kids Club Coordinator
United Way & Volunteer Connections 1-800-417-2622