29 May Michigan Kellogg’s Locals Help Supply Food Banks, Aid Flood Victims
The coronavirus is everywhere in America, and so is hunger. Food banks all across America are struggling to meet surging demand from those hit hard by mass layoffs caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In Michigan, the demand for food assistance is rising at an extraordinary rate, just as the stateโs food banks are being struck by shortages.
To help combat the growing problem within their region, BCTGM Local Unions representing Kelloggโs workers in Michigan led an effort to provide union-made products to the food pantries in the hardest hit areas.
At the Grand Rapids Kelloggโs plant where Local 70 members produce all varieties of Kelloggโs Pop-Tarts, Local 70 Financial Secretary/Business Agent Orin Holder led the effort to provide union-made products to the Greater Lansing Food Bank. According to Holder, union workers packed up 30 skids of Pop-Tarts for the Michigan State AFL-CIO to deliver to Lansing. The Greater Lansing Food Bank provides food to more than 140 food pantries and agencies in the eastern Michigan region.
On May 20 in central Michigan, heavy rain caused two dams to fail, triggering historic flooding that ravaged homes and displaced more than 10,000 residents. The flooding disaster and the evacuation were compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused mass unemployment in the state.
Working with the Michigan State AFL-CIO, Local 3G (Battle Creek) identified Midland County where the flooding left most residents homeless. According to Local 3G President Trevor Bidelman, 2,800 cases of Kelloggโs Raisin Bran Crunch and Kelloggโs Mini-Wheats were loaded at the Battle Creek cereal plant and transported to food banks in Midland and Gladwin, Mich. to help flood victims.