"Generous Hands are blessed hands, because they give bread to those in need." --Proverbs 22:9
New photos!
Because of a very generous grant from the Michigan Women's Foundation, several middle school and high school girls were able to attend Young Chef's Academy. This funding allowed the girls to gain the knowledge of kitchen safety and the basic life skills related to cooking and food preparation. This opportunity was only available to the girls because of the strong commitment of the Michigan Women's Foundation's to improving the lives of girls who need it most. THANK YOU! Please visit Michigan Women's Foundation website at www.miwf.org for more information about their programs.
Check out our movie explaining the problem, and our solution: CLICK HERE.
View or download our latest newsletter (Adobe pdf format) by CLICKING HERE. If you don't have Adobe Reader, you can download that program for free by CLICKING HERE.
Generous Hands Announces 500 Campaign
Since its inception Generous Hands has been funded primarily by grants from the Vicksburg Foundation and the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, grants or cash awards from other organizations, fund-raising activities such as the 2006 WKZO Radio Holiday Dish To Pass Cookbook sale, individual donations and in-kind gifts of appropriate food items, office space and professional services.
We sincerely appreciate each of these funding sources and are more than grateful for what they have allowed Generous Hands to do. However, to ensure that the Friday Pack Program has a regular and reliable source of funds for the entire school year, we are launching our first-ever direct fund-raising campaign.
We invite you to become a 500 Campaign Sustaining Partner. We’re seeking at least 500 individuals, families, businesses or organizations that will donate at least $10 per month ($120 per year) to Generous Hands’ Friday Pack Program.
That work is made possible by caring people like you. By becoming a 500 Campaign Sustaining Partner you will help ensure that Generous Hands has the reliable resources needed to maintain and expand the Friday Pack Program to combat child hunger right here in Vicksburg. Please email Paula Schriemer at schriemer@sbcglobal.net for more information or to obtain a pledge form. Please include your name and home address so that this information may be directly mailed to you.
Who We Are
Generous Hands, Inc. is a small, non-profit organization committed to helping families in time of need. Generous Hands, Inc. was formed by ten women involved in a Bible study / accountability group. These women, all of whom are in the teaching or medical professions, have a passion for helping children and their families.
Our Friday Pack Program, piloted in 2004 at Sunset Lake Elementary School in Vicksburg, Michigan, provides backpacks of food each Friday to children at risk of hunger over the weekends. Children who suffer from hunger can experience serious health problems, including impaired cognitive development, stunted physical growth, physical weakness, and anemia. Lack of food can also profoundly affect childrens' academic performance. Friday packs have been so effective in meeting this need that we are now in all five schools in the Vicksburg District. We have also consulted with the Kalamazoo Public Schools and have assisted them in the creation of their own program. As other schools express interest, we will expand as resources allow.
What began as an operation which functioned from a closet-sized room at Sunset Lake Elementary has now expanded to a program which serves over 120 Vicksburg Community Schools students each week from a 4000 square foot warehouse. Hundreds of community volunteers are involved. The grassroots support by the community of Vicksburg and the Greater Kalamazoo area enabled us to win a 2006 Star Award for Community Service as well as the American Humanics Student Association of Western Michigan University award for the Best Emerging Non-Profit Organization of 2006.
How does the program work?
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Generous Hands, Inc. is able to obtain nutritious, low-cost food from local food banks. Volunteers staff our warehouse at 502 West Highway St., Vicksburg, Michigan. Each week, a variety of kid-friendly foods are placed in backpacks, which are then picked up by each school's Generous Hands site coordinator to be placed in children's lockers.
Typical contents of a Friday Pack:
- Protein items - canned meat, peanut butter
- Breakfast foods - cereal, oatmeal, muffins
- 100% juice
- Fruit cups and/or fresh fruits/vegetables
- Kid-friendly snacks - granola bars, raisins, pretzels
- A coupon to obtain a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, and a dozen eggs at the Vicksburg Felpausch grocery store is included each week for each family. Generous Hands, Inc. is then billed monthly for these items.
Children are confidentially recommended by the staff at their school. A parent information packet is sent home, including a permission slip. Each child is then assigned a number.
Children receive their numbered backpacks each Friday afternoon. All packs are returned on Monday to be refilled for the following Friday. During the summer, families are offered the opportunity to continue receiving Friday Packs each week, but they must be picked up at our warehouse. Felpausch coupons are also still distributed during the summer.
New ventures:
In addition to the Friday Pack program, Generous Hands, Inc. piloted two other programs during the summer of 2006. Our tutoring program took place during the last two weeks of August, Tuesday through Friday from 11AM to 1PM, at our warehouse. The program was designed by several teachers and reading consultants associated with Generous Hands and staffed with additional volunteers. About a dozen children from the Friday Pack program were invited to participate in a "re-entry" program, designed to get them ready to return to school. Basic reading and math were reviewed at each child's academic level. We also provided lunch for these children, which they helped prepare.
The second summer program was called the Fresh Food Initiative. Twice during the summer, we obtained mostly perishable food from the Food Bank of South Central Michigan in Battle Creek--including items like fresh sweet corn, zucchini, tomatoes, peaches, yogurt and bread. We partnered with the Vicksburg United Methodist Church and South County Community Services in distributing these items to families in need. Forty-nine families were served during the first FFI and 68 during the second.
This page last updated
February 24, 2009
Generous Hands, Inc. 
