Meet the (614) Pizza & Beer Week beneficiary helping to feed Columbus youth

In 2019, Dublin mother of four Ashley Kanney launched a food drive to help provide food to local families around the holidays. The event reached 97 families. 

And while helping nearly 100 families is substantial in its own right, Kanney’s passion project for helping others quickly grew into something much larger. Today, it’s a non-profit organization known as Feed the Kids Columbus, and it has grown meteorically since its inception.

This year alone, Feed the Kids–one of the beneficiaries of the (614) Pizza & Beer Week– is expected to provide upwards of 240,000 snacks and meals to Columbus youth.

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The Columbus non-profit is currently partnered with 16 local schools to bring a variety of food items–including brown bag lunches, snack bags, loose snacks, weekend bags and more–to Columbus students. This variety of offerings means that students can have lunch or a snack not only during school hours, they can also take food home for the night or weekend.

According to Shellie Deime, Principal of Highland Elementary, this allows students to focus more on learning and performing their best academically

“It’s truly a blessing,” Deime said. “At the end of the day, students can take home a snack bag. I have seen students be less stressed and nervous, knowing that there is a source of food. If a student needs it, it’s there, even for a little brother or sister waiting at home.”

After providing 193,000 meals, 13,000 snack bags and 30,000 individual snacks last year, Feed the Kids Columbus is continuing to grow. The non-profit is hoping to secure its own brick and mortar space, in addition to a large van or box truck for transporting food.

You can visit here If you’d like to support Feed the Kids’ growth by donating yourself.

Want to read more? Check out our print publication, (614) Magazine. Learn where you can find a free copy of our new April issue here!

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