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LUDINGTON — Lakeshore Food Club has received a $5,000 grant from the Great Lakes Energy People Fund to help equip its new Hart Food Club, which is expected to open in October.
The grant will help purchase front-end equipment, including shopping carts and a grocery register scale, for the new nonprofit grocery store, which is being developed in the former Gale’s Grocery building in Hart.
The Hart Food Club is being created in partnership with West Shore Community College and will expand Lakeshore Food Club’s choice-based grocery model into Oceana County. The organization said the new location will provide hundreds of low- to moderate-income households with access to healthy food, fresh produce and a grocery shopping experience centered on dignity and choice.
“Dignity begins with choice,” said O’Nealya Gronstal, executive director of Lakeshore Food Club. “The equipment funded through the Great Lakes Energy People Fund will help ensure that when families walk through our doors in Hart, they’re welcomed into a grocery store designed to feel familiar, respectful and empowering. From shopping carts to our grocery register scale, these essential tools help create the seamless grocery shopping experience our members deserve while helping create the welcoming shopping experience that reflects our commitment to healthy food, dignity and choice.”
Organization officials said the grant will help create a welcoming environment while supporting Lakeshore Food Club’s mission of expanding access to healthy food throughout the region.
The Great Lakes Energy People Fund is supported by cooperative members who voluntarily round up their monthly electric bills to the next highest dollar. Those contributions are distributed as grants to nonprofit organizations and charitable projects across the electric cooperative’s service area.
Lakeshore Food Club is encouraging Great Lakes Energy members to participate in the People Fund program to support future community investments.
For more information about the Hart Food Club expansion or to support Lakeshore Food Club, visit LakeshoreFoodClub.org. Information about the Great Lakes Energy People Fund is available by calling 888-485-2537 or visiting gtlakes.com.
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