College Provides Students with Food for Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanks to partnerships with local farmers and a grant from the Marvin and Rosalie Okun Foundation, Kalamazoo Valley students will have the opportunity to pick up a special Thanksgiving Food Share Monday, Nov. 23 at the college’s Food Innovation Center or Tuesday Nov. 24 at the Texas Township Campus through the school’s Valley Food Share program.

The box or “share” will include all of the ingredients for a family-sized, Thanksgiving-style meal. Students will receive a chicken, potatoes, apples, stuffing, parsnips, squash, celery, carrots, onions, rolls, butter and more. Holiday recipes and a cookbook, created through a partnership between the college and Integrated Services of Kalamazoo, also will be included.

Valley Food Share, a program launched in March 2019, is designed to meet the immediate hunger needs of currently enrolled Kalamazoo Valley students. More than 2,500 boxes or “shares” of food have been distributed to Valley students since its inception. The shares, which are distributed weekly at the college’s different campuses, include produce grown on site or sourced through the ValleyHUB Food Hub and Farm at the college’s Food Innovation Center as well as nonperishable items acquired through a partnership with Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes. To reflect the college’s belief in the transformative power of education to improve the health and well-being of the community, a recipe card with healthy, go-to meal ideas, based on the food in the share, is also included.

Since the onset of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the Valley Food Share has been a drive-thru service. The program will continue in this fashion given the ongoing safety concerns presented by the pandemic.

The special Thanksgiving Food Share will be distributed curbside by college president, L. Marshall Washington, Ph.D., administrators and staff between 1 - 4 p.m. at the Food Innovation Center Nov. 23 and at the Texas Township Campus Nov. 24. Students are required to RSVP and select a pick up time in order to receive a share. The Food Innovation Center is located at 224 E. Crosstown Parkway in downtown Kalamazoo. The address of the Texas Township Campus is 6767 W. O. Avenue in Kalamazoo.

“We are very thankful to our community partners and the generous donation we received from the Okun Foundation which has enabled us to provide a special Thanksgiving meal for our students,” Washington said. “With their help, we can support student success by removing barriers, like food insecurity, that interfere with their ability to persist to goal completion and eventually graduation.”

   For more information, email foodshare@kvcc.edu.