The new Feeding America facility should not be cause for celebration, especially when the GR Chamber of Commerce is present

Last week, Feeding America West Michigan celebrated the opening of a new facility, which will allow them to expand how much food charity they can engage in.

The Grand Opening ceremony in Kentwood was attended by lots of “community partners”, like the Meijer Corporation, Herbrucks and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony, which provide corporate partners a photo opportunity.

I find it deeply problematic when a food charity organization expands its operation, since that means they are now having to provide food relief to even more families. Now, I am not fundamentally against food charity, but unless organizations that are practicing food charity work to simultaneously address the root causes of hunger, they are perpetuating the problem.

Feeding America West Michigan says that their mission, “is to provide nourishment and hunger relief resources to our neighbors by amplifying the strength of communities through collaboration and advocacy. We believe that hunger is unacceptable and that our community has the power to change lives.” 

I agree that hunger is unacceptable, but no where on the Feeding America West Michigan site do they advocate for system change, so that people will not have to rely on food charity, except maybe during a disaster. 

If we as a society were serious about ending hunger we would address root causes of the problem, by engaging in some of the following actions:

• If everyone made a Living Wage they would not have to rely on food charity. There is no exact amount of what people need to earn for it to be a living wage, but numerous organizations that track the cost of living would say that $35 an hour wage would be closer to what a Living Wage might look like in Michigan.
• Either eliminate the Farm Bill or completely revamp it to promote a food system that actually makes sure that everyone has the right to healthy and whole food, plus food that was produced in an ecologically sustainable way. Our current food system does neither right now.
• Addressing the Wealth Gap. You cannot have a small percentage of billionaires, while 41% of the population in Michigan is living paycheck to paycheck.

Now, not only does Feeding America West Michigan completely avoid address these types of structure issues, they have people who sit on their board and community partners that will do their best to make sure that these systemic food issues and actions are never addressed. For example, I mentioned earlier that some of Feeding America West Michigan’s community partners are the Meijer Corporation and Herbrucks. Meijer doesn’t pay a Living Wage to their employees, even though the three Meijer Corporation brothers are worth $16.5 Billion together. Herbrucks doesn’t pay their employees a Living Wage, plus they hire a large number of immigrants to work in their eggs production facilities, many of whom are a risk of deportation.

Then there is the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, which posted pictures of the Grand Opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for Feeding America West Michigan. The GR Chamber’s CEO Rick Baker was invited to speak during the ceremony and be part of the photo-op. 

Now, the GR Chamber of Commerce states that their mission is, “A thriving and prosperous West Michigan for all.” The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has been around since the late 19th Century and Grand Rapids has always had a significant wealth gap, with a small percentage of business owners having tremendous wealth, while the majority of Grand Rapids has always struggled. There is nothing that the GR Chamber does to make sure that everyone is “thriving and prosperous.” In fact, the GR Chamber of Commerce is constantly working to influence public policy in such a way as to make sure that their members are thriving and prosperous, but could care less about most of us.

The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce opposes worker unions, they oppose raising the minimum wage (especially a minimum wage that gets us closer to a Living Wage), they oppose state policies that truly benefit workers, they support economic policies which disproportionately benefit the business class and they have created entities like Housing Next and the West Michigan Policy Forum, which also work to influence public policy that perpetuates Capitalism at the expense of the masses.

The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce is always trying to buy politicians, they worked hard to get the City of Grand Rapids to adopt two ordinances in 2023 that would criminalize the unhoused, they spent $50,000 to make sure that the Hotel Tax ballot initiative would pass in August and they have gone to bat for all of the downtown GR development projects, like the most recent $565 million tax incentives for the DeVos/Van Andel project on Fulton and Market.

Ultimately, having the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce speak at a ribbon cutting ceremony is proof that Feeding America West Michigan will not actually end hunger, but merely provide the appearance that they actually care about people subjected to poverty, while partnering with organizations that profit from exploitation. Welcome to West Michigan Nice!