The Spring 2023 class selected Food Fort as a recipient of a $5,000 grant. While this organization provides weekly dinners, Food Fort is "more than just a meal" as they focus on cultivating relationships and providing support systems for the kids they serve. Read on for a Q&A with Michaela Akridge, Founder and Executive Director of Food Fort
Q: How does Food Fort work?
A: We use food as our avenue to develop relationships with at-risk youth who don’t necessarily have adults present in their lives to go to for certain things. Our renovated school bus cultivates a family dinner table environment in the streets of neighborhoods whose youth lack that sort of environment within their own home. It’s all about kids coming to hang out, eat dinner and do homework together and building those relationships.
Q: Your organization has been selected by Strive to Thrive Lincoln classes three times now. Why do you like partnering with the class, even though a grant is never guaranteed?
A: The entire process of what Strive to Thrive does for the area and the nonprofit world is so unique. It's great that a class in the College of Business is able to teach college students about the ins and outs of nonprofits. It's amazing for the youth, talent and passions to grow. We are grateful to be a part of this experience again.
Q: If you could have changed anything about the grant process, what would it be?
A: It's difficult to read what an organization is fully about on paper. I would have loved it if a larger group had been able to come and experience what everything is about on-site. You can read the mission all day, but it's a lot different when you are actually in the place of a change that is occurring that helps the community. Some of the kids we serve still talk about their visit and ask when the guys [members of Strive to Thrive Lincoln] are coming back to play more football.
Learn more about Food Fort at http://www.lincolnfoodfort.com/