Aug. 28, 2025
Kids’ Food Basket, a nonprofit dedicated to eliminating food insecurity in West Michigan, believes nutritious food is a right, not a privilege. The organization distributes about 11,000 meals every day through its Sack Supper Program and provides educational resources to raise awareness about food insecurity.
Each year, Kids’ Food Basket hosts a Farm to Table Dinner on their farm in Muskegon, MI to help support the mission. This year, five Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) Secchia Institute for Culinary Education chefs prepared a five-course meal using seasonal produce grown on the farm.
Senior farm manager Jason Lundberg worked with chefs Jennifer Struik, Bob Schultz, Katy Waltz, Wilfredo Barajas and Sean Marr to create an upscale cookout menu. Struik began collaborating with Kids’ Food Basket for the dinner event in 2021, and after joining GRCC in 2023, she knew this could become a beautiful collaboration with her colleagues.
“Many of us being in education and the food industry know how important it is for everyone to have access to healthy food,” said Struik. “We got a chance to showcase how wonderful fresh, seasonal food can be. We put up 500 plates of food that evening and knew how much planning and hours of volunteer time went into that. It more clearly provides perspective on how incredible this organization is putting together 11,000 meals a day. It’s so great to see people investing in this opportunity to sponsor the farm to table dinner and make the sack meals a continued possibility.”
The menu for the evening’s dinner showcased mostly plant-based courses, elevating familiar dishes with fresh ingredients from the Kids’ Food Basket Farm. The menu included:
- Melon and pepper gelée with marigolds
- Tomato toast with fresh herbs, tomatoes, garlic and microgreens
- Sweet corn gazpacho
- GRCC beer brat and polenta cake with blackberries, honey, summer squash, herbs and microgreens
- Cucumber and basil popsicle with blackberries.
“This is my fourth year doing this event now, but my first year bringing all my colleagues,” said Struik. “It was wonderful making this a GRCC event in the kitchen. For us as instructors, we really try to stay innovative, current and creative. This event was a big highlight for us to put our creative energy forward. Being able to do this while supporting a cause that is actively working to fight food insecurity in West Michigan is amazing. On top of that, getting positive feedback from guests and the community was another bonus.”
After the fifth course was served, guests sought out the chefs to thank them for an incredible culinary experience.
“A guest brought her mother to the event,” stated Struik. “After dinner she took the time to seek us out in the barn, where we were staged to plate dinner, to tell us it was the greatest thing she’s ever been to. It brought tears to my eyes. It shows the level of the chefs we have at GRCC.”
With no on-site kitchen, the team relied on careful prep work and creativity to serve each course seamlessly. Later, in a letter to her colleagues, Struik wrote, “I want to thank you all for the time and effort that went into planning and executing this event. From our first meeting in May, to putting it all on a plate… it was one of the best collaborations I have been a part of.”
Struik said the event highlighted both the mission of Kids’ Food Basket and the strong collaboration among GRCC’s chefs.
“I love this event,” Struik said. “It shows me there’s always hope for the future. I think, for our industry in particular, it’s been hard since COVID. This shows me there’s still a space for that creativity for great food, for partnership, and hope for the community when it comes to eliminating food insecurity. What Kids’ Food Basket has accomplished, and continues to work toward, is nothing short of amazing.”
The Farm to Table Dinner continues to serve as a powerful connection between Kids’ Food Basket and the community, bringing people together to help ensure West Michigan children have access to healthy meals.
Learn more about Kids’ Food Basket
Learn more about GRCC’s Secchia Institute for Culinary Education
This story reported by Anjula Caldwell