Decoration drive held for Kids' Food Basket

Students, faculty and staff members from the College of Education and School of Criminal Justice decorated more than 1,400 brown paper bags for Kids' Food Basket of Grand Rapids.

The effort is part of the Sack Supper Program at Kids' Food Basket, which offers children in Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Holland a nutritious dinner, filling a gap that schools and parents often can't afford. The sack dinners are delivered directly to classrooms.

Members from the College of Education have come together to decorate brown bags since 2014, when Erica Hamilton, assistant professor of education, coordinated the project at Grand Valley. To date, students, faculty and staff members have donated more than 3,000 decorated bags.

"It's amazing to see how this 'drive' has grown and how much creativity others put in to decorating the bags," said Hamilton. "This year, criminal justice students, faculty and staff joined us to decorate and collect bags. We are committed to serving our community and this has been a terrific way to do that."

Tom Owens, director of the Student Information and Services Center in the College of Education, coordinates a “loose change” drive to complement the bag decoration efforts; more than $880 was collected for Kids' Food Basket this fall.

Kids' Food Basket is holding a Brown Bag Decorating Day October 22.