“This initiative is really in honor of our Elders,” said NHBP Food Sovereignty Coordinator and Tribal Member Nickole Keith.  

The initiative started with an idea formulated by a group of Elders who desired to feed kids during the summer.

In May 2023, before school sessions ended, volunteers from both NHBP and Kellogg’s came together to form an assembly line and stuff more than 500 brown grocery bags. These bags were filled to the brim with food for every identified student of Athens Area Schools to take home on their last day before the summer break. This idea was brought to fruition by combined efforts from Keith and with the help of Battle Creek food company Kellogg’s.

Food insecurity is a well-known issue impacting families, and roughly 45% of students in the Athens school district qualify for free school meals through the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits program. SNAP is a “federal food benefits program that provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of families who are in need of a little extra support so they can purchase healthy food and move towards self-sufficiency,” according to their website. 

Access to these crucial school food programs also ends at the end of the school year. 

“This collaboration has allowed us to provide a meal over summer once the school lunch and breakfast programs end,” said Keith. 

While Keith brought the idea to Kellogg’s KMERG (Kellogg’s Multicultural Employee Resource Group), they then opened the opportunity up for all Kellogg’s employees to participate. Keith coordinated the distribution directly with Athens Area Schools with the help of NHBP staff and Membership Services, who lent a hand in coordinating the final delivery.

“We have been wanting to do these snack packs for a long time but haven’t been able to do it in a way that would best help them (Athens School),” said Keith.

In order to make sure the bags were filled with a great selection of snacks to choose from, Kellogg’s corporation not only donated some of their own products, but they also enlisted help from their employees. They created Amazon and Sam’s Club wish lists, which allowed employees to select items to donate that would be packed in the bags.  

Each bag contained two boxes of cereal, fruit cups, pudding, Nutri-grain® bars, fruit snacks and a wide variety of other snacks. 

NHBP’s Food Sovereignty Program has flourished under Keith’s direction since June 2021. Although ensuring food sovereignty within our Tribal Community is a priority, the efforts of this program are reaching far beyond our own Community, as collaborations like these allow NHBP to continue giving back to local communities as well. 

Chi Migwéch {Big Thank You} to everyone who played a part in making this initiative possible.

To view more photos of the event, click here.

For more information on NHBP Food Sovereignty, please join the Facebook group, where recipes, ideas and events are shared as a Community.