LaFleur in the Community: Kids Food Basket
LaFleur Marketing Community Outreach
At LaFleur, we pride ourselves on being a community-focused organization. One way we act on our principles is through monthly community outreach initiatives.
Each month, one team member plans a community activity that the entire team can participate in (optional participation, of course). It’s a great team-building exercise and also makes a real impact in our amazing and beautiful community.
In the past, we have worked with and supported such organizations as Tyson’s Place Animal Rescue, Slow Food West Michigan, Hope Farms, and Well House.
This month, LaFleur social media specialist, Jason Brower, worked with Kids’ Food Basket to schedule an opportunity for the team to make sack suppers for students in the Grand Rapids area.
RELATED: The Team at LaFleur Digs Into Volunteering With Well House
Kids’ Food Basket’s Impact on the Community
Kids’ Food Basket started providing sack suppers to students in need nearly a decade ago. Today they serve nearly 7,500 kids each weekday in the West Michigan area. Each sack supper provides a well-balanced meal for students who might not otherwise receive proper nutrition or have access to food at home.
Kids’ Food Basket relies on hundreds of volunteers every day to help prepare, pack, and deliver the sack suppers to area schools. Each sack supper contains one serving of fruit, one serving of vegetables, one serving of protein, and a healthy snack.
LaFleur Team Takes Their Sandwich Skills to a New Level
We were scheduled to help make peanut butter sandwiches, and what school-aged child doesn’t love those? To accommodate students with peanut allergies, we prepared an alternate sack supper.
It was great to see the team working together and the different assembly line strategies among the group. Some were doing individual sandwiches while others were laying out full loaves of bread, buttering the bread, then assembling and bagging the sandwiches. Between the ten LaFleur team members who participated in the volunteer day, we estimated we made more than 400 peanut butter sandwiches in one hour. We had an awesome time together, and I think the experience was made even better knowing we were all chipping in to help children and families in our community.
Volunteering Made Easy
One great thing about volunteering with Kids’ Food Basket is the ease of the process. From signing up for a volunteer slot through an online portal to the can-do attitude during each volunteer’s designated time slot.
The volunteer coordinator was very accommodating to find a volunteer slot for a group of our size that could also fit our schedules. Once we arrived at the facility, we grabbed our hairnets and gloves, received a quick tutorial from one of the head volunteers, and jumped right in. Before we knew it, the hour was over.
Many of the team members noted just how easy it was to help out and how fast the time went by, including LaFleur President, Chip LaFleur. “I really loved working with the LaFleur Marketing team at Kids’ Food Basket, and I can’t overemphasize how well run their operation is. We showed up, worked for an hour, and headed out. They made it so easy to help out; we’ll be back soon!”
The Kids’ Food Basket employees and head volunteers were very helpful and appreciative of the work we were doing and are always looking for helping hands. If you or your business are interested in doing your part, Kids’ Food Basket provides all the necessary supplies — including hairnets, beard nets, and gloves — so volunteers can focus on the job at hand and get their work done during their allotted time. (And, boy, were those hairnets stylish!)
If you can butter a sandwich or pack pretzels into ziplock bags, we strongly encourage you to check out Kids’ Food Basket for your next volunteer opportunity. They provide a wonderful community service, and we were humbled to have the chance to contribute.
Contact LaFleur Today: Passion for Community
Working with Kids’ Food Basket shows how much one organization can impact an entire community. We are looking forward to the next opportunity to work with a Grand Rapids nonprofit and team up to provide help within our local community in accordance with our core values of transparency, family, education, and community involvement.
If you would like to discuss our organization’s core values, compassionate practices, and professional excellence, please contact us today by completing this brief form or calling 888-222-1512. We are a caring group of individuals who are passionate about doing amazing work and having a great time doing it!
