Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes

Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes is an organization built upon the vision of working toward a hunger-free community.  This organization was started in 1982 by churches in downtown Kalamazoo in order to feed people who were in need of assistance.  Since 1982 they have expanded tremendously and now serve all of Kalamazoo county.  The mission of Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes is to feed hungry people and engage the community in the fight to end hunger.  I think this is such a wonderful thing to have in any area, especially where there are people in need.  The values of KLF include respect, diversity and inclusion, stewardship and accountability, integrity, collaboration, urgency, and service.  The strategic commitments of KLF are to provide high quality food, to develop high quality client access and support, to nurture the volunteer base, to market their services and their mission, and to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.  

In order for food dollars to be stretched further which secures a multitude of food resources at a minimal cost, KLF works with local partners such as the Food Bank of South Central Michigan, this partnership procures low-cost foods.  The way that KLF works is really awesome, they receive food from donations through the community and large drives throughout the year.  They distribute over 2 million pounds of food annually, including nutritious food.  Money is needed to run this wonderful organization because they need to pay their staff, pay for electricity, and pay for the operations of their trucks each week.  Also, in order to have nutritious food readily available money is needed.  They offer volunteer opportunities and other events throughout the year.  An upcoming event is the Good Food Roundtable, which is hosted by Good Food Kalamazoo, a coalition of food and hunger organizations.  This event is taking place on Tuesday, February 11, 2014.  
What KLF does is really amazing because there are so many people out there in need and to have an organization that cares so much about their community is really great.  The organization seems to try very hard to better themselves every year, for example in 2012 nearly 127,000 people received food through the Grocery Pantry Program, which is the largest of their programs.  The amount of people that received food in 2012 increased by 13% since 2011, this just goes to show how much hard work KLF is putting in, and it is all to help out their community!!
On the site for Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes there is a spot where it displays Hunger Stories which are quotes from people who have been helped by this organization.  There are many people who find it difficult to ask for help in times of need but KLF makes it easy for them to find the help they need and to feel welcomed.  One person wrote, "KLF volunteers always made me feel like somebody instead of nothing."  To read this on their site it really amazing, it just goes to show how caring the people there are even on top of already doing such a good deed.