Orange is a bright, bold color that was proudly worn by the staff and students at the Ross Medical Education Center campus in Roosevelt Park, Michigan on March 24th. In fact, it was the color of the day as the campus used something as simple as dressing in a certain color as a way to educate and bring awareness to childhood hunger crisis. As part of their commitment to awareness, the campus dedicated the month of March to supporting local organization, Kids Food Basket in Muskegon, in various ways. One of the efforts they made was through decorating over 400 lunch sacks and another was collecting 500 food items to donate.
As the Kids Food Basket website states, “Childhood hunger affects the whole community and the whole community can be a part of the solution.” The Ross community knows that is true and works hard to be a part of the solution and also encourage other community members to join in the effort. In April 2012, Kids Food Basket first introduced the Sack Supper program in Muskegon. Within three years, the local Kid’s Food Basket is serving nearly 1,000 children each weekday.
This was the first time that the campus has had the opportunity to work with Kids Food Basket. It started because Campus Director Lisa Picard is a part of the Positively Muskegon organization. She learned a bit about Kids Food Basket, saw a need and a way to help out, and brought the opportunity to her campus. “The Kids Food basket is a great local organization that helps with childhood hunger in our immediate community,” shared Amanda Holman, Career Services Student Support Representative. “Childhood hunger is such a large issue that if we can all wear orange just that one day out of the year to bring awareness, then that is something easy that we can do. Donations are great, but some of our students themselves are in this situation. Wearing orange and bringing the awareness is one small step towards breaking the cycle of hunger in the community.”
Helen Keller once said, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” “This is so important to remember as we look at our communities and recognize the needs,” Lisa Picard, Campus Director in Roosevelt Park shared a bit about her campus’ philosophy on service. “Once we recognize those needs, it is important that we as a campus engage in activities and processes that build up our communities in which we serve. Whether one is a Medical Assistant student, Medical Insurance Billing and Office Administration student, or Dental Assistant student, we will be serving our community.”
What a great way to get more involved at a deeper level to improve lives and strengthen community bonds! This is something that the Roosevelt Park campus always tries to deeply involve themselves in as staff and faculty members inspire students to move forward in their career, but more importantly to improve the lives of those in the community. The Kids Food Basket Project is just another way that they are able to fulfill a Core Value of Ross as well as an individual drive to make the community a better place through involvement and commitment to those members in the communities in which they serve.
If you are interested in learning more about this organization and how you can help, visit the Kids Food Basket Facebook page or their website at www.kidsfoodbasket.org.