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Detroit Tigers surprise Grand Rapids elementary students volunteering at Kids' Food Basket

The players volunteered with the students to fill and decorate brown paper bags for sack suppers.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A few players from the Detroit Tigers took a break from baseball to pack some lunches Friday.

Members of the team stopped by the Kids' Food Basket headquarters located at 1300 Plymouth Ave. NE in Grand Rapids. The players and staff surprised a group of Brookside Elementary School students who were already there volunteering for the day.

Students and players worked side-by-side to decorate brown paper bags and then filled them up with food items to deliver to area children battling food insecurity. 

Kids' Food Basket provides nutritious evening meals to 8,800 children in Kent, Ottawa, Allegan, and Muskegon counties. The sack suppers with notes and hand-drawn pictures from the Tigers players adds an extra special touch.

"This organization feeds 8,800 kids a day and it doesn't get any better than that," Tigers catcher Grayson Greiner said at the event. "Everything in the world is geared toward raising the next generation of kids and the fact that we are a small piece in the big engine that's helping that is huge."

"It is because of partnerships like those with the Detroit Tigers and Brookside Elementary that Kids' Food Basket is able to help thousands of children thrive by meeting a simple but critical need – the nourishment of an evening meal made with love," states Bridget Clark Whitney, founding CEO, Kids' Food Basket. "By equipping children and families with greater access to fresh, locally grown food, it can help us build a vibrant and healthy West Michigan. Our Sack Suppers and educational programs are funded by our community, and we are so grateful for the amazing generosity of our supporters." 

The Detroit Tigers also announced a ticket donation to Kids' Food Basket and Brookside Elementary to a mutually determined 2020 Tigers game.

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