HISTORY
In 2008, a Michigan parent, was reading an article about a program which provides food for hunger-insecure children for the weekends. She knew that she could not just put down the article and forget about it because the thought of hungry children kept haunting her. She wondered if there were children within her own community on the free and reduced fee lunch program that could benefit from such a program. Read More When she did her research, she was genuinely surprised to find out how many children, within her community, were on the free or reduced fee lunch program. It broke her heart to think, while her own children were so fortunate, there were so many of her children’s peers were struggling to have a meal on the weekend.
The program was launched in Michigan in 2008 and operated under a different name for the last 16 years. In the summer of 2024, eighteen communities renamed the program Fueling Kids’ Futures One Meal at a Time. They did this so their programs remained local and the money raised was staying in Michigan to provide food for hunger-insecure children. For the 2008/2009 school year we started in one community with seven schools. Each year the program has expanded and now encompasses eighteen communities in Southeastern Michigan with 90 schools participating. Additional schools and communities are added to the program each school year.