Dublin mother’s nonprofit battles food insecurity in several school districts
Although the ongoing COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has sidetracked or derailed many programs and initiatives, it has advanced the mission of Feed the Kids Columbus, an organization founded by Dublin resident Ashley Kanney to help hungry children in Dublin City Schools and other districts.
“I think COVID helped us grow because it brought food insecurity to the forefront,” said Kanney, 38, the mother of four children between the ages of 1 and 7 with her husband, Douglas.
Kanney launched what soon became Feed the Kids Columbus in December 2019, working out of her garage and collecting food in what she called “blessing bags” and delivering them to schools in Dublin.
“I thought it’d be a one-time thing,” Kanney said.
But it has expanded to include 15 schools in the Columbus, Dublin, Groveport Madison, Jonathan Alder and South-Western school districts.
Even as schools, restaurants and other public places were closed in mid-March 2020 for the pandemic, Kanney turned to social media to continue the effort to ensure children have access to food, especially when they were not at school to receive lunches.
Much of the growth of Feed the Kids Columbus is attributable to social media, specifically her personal Facebook page, Kanney said.
“I asked and people helped, it was just like that,” she said.
Kanney said she also began sharing on several group pages in Dublin.
“I didn’t even know more than half of the people who were responding to me,” she said.
At the end of 2020, Feed the Kids Columbus had seven partner schools and had prepared 3,000 snack bags and 105,000 meals; at the end of 2021, it had 14 partner schools and had prepared 13,000 snack bags and 193,000 meals.
A meal bag includes five breakfasts, lunches and snacks, usually delivered when schools are scheduled to be off for an extended period, such as spring break.
Snack bags, prepared more often than the meal bags, contain such items as granola bars, Goldfish crackers and fruit snacks equivalent to 300 calories, Kanney said.
Kanney’s passion for stopping childhood hunger began in summer 2019 when she volunteered to make and deliver brown-bag lunches at Northwest United Methodist Church on Riverside Drive in Columbus to be delivered to Daniel Wright Elementary School in Dublin.
Kanney had recently left a corporate job and was doing consulting work while “looking for something more fulfilling,” she said.
The volunteer work at Northwest United Methodist Church inspired her to establish what was named Feed the Kids Columbus in October 2020.
It became a nonprofit organization in June 2021.
The time required to carry out its mission has increased so much in two years that it requires Kanney’s full-time attention.
“I’m glad I am able to continue doing this full-time” with the support of her family, Kanney said.
A cadre of volunteers and a nine-member board of directors, including Kanney, also help carry out the mission of the nonprofit organization.
Volunteers pick up food at various places, such as the Mid-Ohio Food Collective in Grove City and the Neighborhood Services Inc. food pantry on North Fourth Street in Columbus, just east of the Ohio State University campus.
The organization also purchases food from wholesalers, Kanney said.
The meals or snack bags are delivered to schools, including Highland Elementary School, a Columbus school on South Highland Road on the Hilltop.
Feed the Kids Columbus has partnered with Highland Elementary School since October 2020.
“It’s truly a blessing,” principal Shellie Deime said.
Almost every student at Highland is on a free or reduced-price lunch program, she said.
Since the partnership with Feed the Kids Columbus, Deime said, she has seen her students become less nervous and stressed, knowing there is a source of food.
“At the end of each day, every kid can take home a snack bag,” she said.
There is no formal process to follow, Deime said.
“If a student needs it, it’s there, even for a little brother or sister waiting at home,” she said.
The effort goers beyond nutrition because students learn better, too, Deime said.
In addition to providing nourishment to hungry children, Kanney said, she hopes to continue raising awareness that food insecurity exists in every community.
“I have met a lot of wonderful people, too, who help us do what we do every week,” she said.
Kanney said she did not imagine two years ago that a holiday food drive to help a few families in Dublin would lead to a program supporting 15 schools in five school districts –a program that continues to grow.
“It’s been a crazy journey but a wonderful experience,” Kanney said.
For more information about Feed the Kids Columbus, go to feedthekidscolumbus.org or send an email to [email protected]
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