Social responsibility is an important part of our focus at the Health & Safety Institute. Each year, we select non-profits near our corporate locations to lend support to financially, with volunteer hours and with donation drives. This allows us to build meaningful partnerships and directly address the most important needs for organizations in the communities that sustain us.

This summer, a group of HSI employees in our Grand Rapids (MI) office sponsored a golf outing for the Kids’ Food Basket organization. Kids’ Food Basket West Michigan works to feed children who are food insecure.

“We face urgent challenges of poverty, inequity and health in West Michigan. Regardless of the story, each child we serve and each child that remains on our waiting list needs Kids’ Food Basket. And we need you. Together, we can build a better nourished, healthier future for our community’s kids.”

Kids’ Food Basket serves nearly 8,000 children at 46 elementary schools in Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Holland. More than 240 volunteers each day help prepare, pack and deliver Sack Suppers, a well-rounded evening meal that provides nutrition critical to the development of the brain and body.

Below is the letter from one of the children who benefits from this organization.

For those of you who are in the area, some upcoming events for Kids’ Food Basket are:

Eastbrook Homes Taste & Tour

October 11, 2018 and October 14, 2018

Support Kids' Food Basket & Eastbrook Homes will match your gift!

Jump to Support Kids’ Food Basket

October 12, 2018

40% of ticket sales will be donated to Kids' Food Basket

Furniture City Creamery Scoopsgiving

October 23, 2018

20% of sales to benefit Kids' Food Basket.

GVSU Turkey Trot

November 17, 2018

5k Race to benefit Kids' Food Basket.

Gobble Wobble

November 22, 2018

Join us for the annual Gobble Wobble fun run on Thanksgiving morning!

#GivingTuesday

November 27, 2018

Inspire 250 people to join the attack on childhood hunger with a gift that is meaningful to them. Every dollar makes a difference!

Some of the other amazing organizations we’ve been involved with and want to bring attention to are highlighted below:

Kids’ Chance of America is dedicated to helping kids who need assistance for college or vocational education because a parent was killed or injured in a work-related accident. Currently Kids’ Chance is represented in thirty-eight states and we are working to fulfill the educational dreams of students across the country. Their hope is to see Kids' Chance expand to all 50 states.

Clark County Food Bank is a regional food bank that distributes 6.6 million pounds of food and 5.5 million meals a year to 65,000 hungry individuals in Clark County. They partner with 40 local agencies and programs to serve the food insecure in our community.

Lane County Food Bank is dedicated to eliminating hunger by creating access to food, by soliciting, collecting, rescuing, growing, preparing and packaging food for distribution through a network of more than 150 social service agencies and programs; through public awareness, education and community advocacy; and through programs designed to improve the ability of low-income individuals to maintain an adequate supply of wholesome, nutritious food.

Mel Trotter Ministries was founded in 1899 when city leaders in Grand Rapids discovered an influx of homelessness and addiction. They called the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission in Chicago for help and Melvin E. Trotter, a former homeless and hopeless alcoholic, was tapped to start the Grand Rapids City Rescue Mission in 1900. In his forty years of running the Mission, he tapped many others to help start 68 other Rescue Missions across the country.

Santa Claus Girls is a 100% volunteer based non-profit, hoping to gift every child at Christmas: It’s a simple, magical idea. For more than 100 years, the Santa Claus Girls have filled the void under the tree for thousands of families. With donations of time and money, they continue a legacy of buying, wrapping and delivering presents that dates to 1908.

Christmas for Kids of Lane County help support their mission to ensure severely underprivileged children in Lane County get the holiday experience they deserve. Lane County has an incredibly high population of disadvantaged youth, many of whom live in shelters or are at chronic risk of being homeless. The families selected are from places such as Boys and Girls Club, Relief Nursery, First Place Family Development Center, Womenspace and other local organizations.