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Random people, random topics, talking on random sidewalks in the City of Saginaw, Michigan.
Tita, Dallas, Swanton, Saginaw Community Food Club and Kitchen. Take one. You actually don't have to do all of
Speaker 2:that ranting at the beginning. It just makes me feel legit.
Speaker 3:I love it.
Speaker 2:First first question, most important question of the day, what do you think about my hat?
Speaker 3:Fantastic. Were you, like oh, wait. Free the sun was gonna hit you?
Speaker 1:Or Well what's going on here? Is it
Speaker 3:cold out?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Like, I got I got this hat in South Carolina because it's very hot, And then it turned out, like, hats like these are not inherently cool hats. And so it made me even warmer. And so I was like, what am I gonna use this hat for, this ridiculous hat? I said, well, sidewalk tux.
Speaker 3:Well, there you go.
Speaker 2:It makes so much sense. What have you brought me here first of all?
Speaker 3:Oh, so I know how much you're a foodie.
Speaker 2:Yes. I'd love
Speaker 3:to. Like, test all things out. And so I wanted you to be able to go home and tell your wife that for breakfast, you had vegetables out of the garden. So I got you, I made you some zucchini bread
Speaker 2:straight from our garden. You so you grew this is like farm to table zucchini bread?
Speaker 3:Yes. And this is farm to table rhubarb coffee cake. No. And I've been told it goes really well with coffee, but I don't like coffee, but I do love a good coffee cake.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I brought it for you.
Speaker 2:You're making my life right now because growing up, my dad had this huge backyard garden. Like, this was not, like, a hobby garden. This was, like, full out, like, American World War two. We have to grow our own food kind of garden. So me and my brothers used to sit and just eat cherry tomatoes and stuff.
Speaker 2:Zucchini is as big as your bodies, and we had zucchini bread all the time. So this is, like, it's like a throwback, like a memory.
Speaker 3:So that's funny because our gardens originally started at our house because my husband hates to cut grass.
Speaker 2:And I hate to cut grass too.
Speaker 3:He went a long time with a lawn care business. Mhmm. And so when we had kids and decided that he was gonna stay home with my daughter while I was at work during the day because he was working in the evening, he said to me, does that mean I never have to cut grass again? Yes. You can drop all of your, different accounts.
Speaker 3:And so I think he tries to come up with every reason in our yard to put something else in so that there's less grass to cut.
Speaker 2:Your your husband and I sound like kindred spirits because that's exactly why I hate to cut grass because I used to work in landscaping. It was, like, all day, every day cutting grass and doing landscaping. So my wife is like, what if what do you think if we put stones? I'm like, no. No stones.
Speaker 2:No mulch. None of this.
Speaker 3:So we have a lot of those different things in our yard, and I joke that one of his favorite projects to do is pick things up and put them down because it's like, oh, that's now gonna look better over here. Oh, I wanna move that over here. And then you're just always busy because your ongoing job is I pick things up and put things down.
Speaker 2:I like that. Keep things simple. This zucchini bread is perfection.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you.
Speaker 2:It's so good.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:It's so good. Very appropriate that I'm eating food sitting in front of what will be the Saginaw Community Food Club and Kitchen. Yes. Folks have have hopefully seen it all over social media the past year or so, but this might be their very first time actually seeing the building in construction behind us. For folks that don't know exactly what it is, what is the Saginaw Community Food Club and Kitchen going to be?
Speaker 3:So it's a nonprofit grocery store that will also have educational kitchens and a commercial kitchen. We're putting a rooftop garden up on the roof. Oh, wow. So we'll do some more farm to table type things with education in the kitchen from that. So the grocery store is a little bit different than what a lot of our other food giveaway type samples are.
Speaker 3:It will look like your normal grocery store, Meijer, Kroger, on a smaller scale. The difference is just how you purchase the food. So instead of having a price tag on the food, it is a membership model. People will purchase a membership that's a sliding scale based on their income, somewhere between $11 and $16 a month, so we're not talking big dollars here. And then all of the food, instead of the price tag, will have a point system on it from one to six points.
Speaker 3:The healthier the food, the lower the points. So when you need to come pick up some some zucchini for that recipe I'm about to give you, you can pick that up for one point.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Awesome. I love I love that incentive for for healthier food. Why why does Saginaw as a community need a food club like this?
Speaker 3:So, the food club is geared toward what we refer to as the ALICE population. And ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed. Basically, the people who are working paycheck to paycheck. And what we know is many of those people receive some sort of assistance, some don't receive any. And even if they receive assistance, about 80% of assistant dollars are used in the first couple weeks of the month, always leaving a gap between when they are done with those dollars and when they receive their next amount of money.
Speaker 3:And so then that falls back on our emergency food system, which would be those like the east side soup kitchen or a pantry, a lot of our pop up food distributions, and so people need to go to collect free food somewhere to feed their families until they get their next amount of money from those assistance dollars or SNAP benefits that they receive. And so this just is a gap filler, really, for people who need regular groceries, are working, and they just need a place that they can then afford their groceries.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I wanna talk about something called the benefits gap or benefits cliff when it comes to Alice population because that was something that personally I experienced. I was was officially poverty level and receiving assistance. And then I remember the moment that I made, like, a dollar more than what was officially regarded impoverished. And all of a sudden, my assistance went away.
Speaker 2:And I was like, so I I feel like I'm in a worse position now than I was before because before, like, I at least had health insurance, but now now I'm paying $600 a month for for health insurance, and so I'm technically making less than I was before. And that's something that the Alice population experiences. They get a a raise at work and most of us are like, yeah, this is this is this is amazing. But unfortunately, what it can happen is that can lead them to losing assistance and they no longer have access to programs and things like that, and so there's nothing to help them. So I think something like the food club is such an amazing benefit because it says here, we as a community are doing something to help you.
Speaker 3:Well, and you're not alone in that. That happens all the time. And we are in a place where there are some people, who actually have to say no to getting a raise or taking that promotion because the amount that they're getting is less than what they would be losing in those assistance dollars. And so it just goes back to the system is broken. Right?
Speaker 3:We have people trying to help and better themselves, and it's going to make it worse off for their family. So, again, like, where are the programs that are that middle ground or gap filler? Mhmm. That's exactly what the food club can step in for. Right?
Speaker 3:And so if they lose food assistance dollars, this allows them to still be able to grocery shop in a way that they can afford to do so while they're continuing to take steps forward. And I think we need to figure out better ways in our system as a whole of what are those things that give people a hand up and not the answer of either you get a handout or you get nothing.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Absolutely. Improving access to food, so important to Saginaw. The location of this on Meredith Street, it's right outside Downtown Saginaw. If folks know the the MMR Building is, that's where Meredith is.
Speaker 2:So kinda equidistant between East Side and West Side Saginaw, which is something, that I love. You're not the only group trying to address, access to food in Saginaw. Folks see, like, East Side Soup Kitchen, and, Hidden Harvest, and then talking about, like, the hunger solutions thing going on. Can you tell me a little bit about what that is and why that is also necessary in Saginaw?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the Hunger Solutions Center is an amazing, location that has two different nonprofits or organizations within the building. I'm gonna start by saying I am not a spokesperson for
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:The Hunger Solutions Center.
Speaker 2:I'm coming for you guys next. Hunger Solutions Center.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the two ladies that run those two organizations, Sam McKenzie and Diane Keenan, I'm super excited that you're gonna go talk to them.
Speaker 2:They're amazing.
Speaker 3:Amazing people. Yes. And the Hunger Solutions Center came to Saginah, I don't know how many years ago, a while now, and really to hit that population of poverty. There are so many people who needed to be fed, and so, Hidden Harvest does a lot of rescuing of food, and so whether that's a restaurant or a grocery store that has to turn an order away or farmers whatever that has extra, they rescue food and redistribute it to other organizations to provide to the, community. And the East Side Soup Kitchen is an amazing place that anytime somebody needs, a meal, right now, right, they have lunch every day and I think they also then allow you to take another meal with you.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Yep. And so, that's what we would refer to as the emergency food system, and when we were looking at what Saginaw County does well and where are those gaps, we learned our emergency food system is phenomenal. Yeah. There's a ton Yeah.
Speaker 3:Of
Speaker 2:I just wanna say Diane and and her crew over there, servings last I heard some upwards of 700 meals over sixty minutes every single day.
Speaker 3:Yes. And when they started, I think they were only planning for, like, around a 100, a 150, I think I And it just continues to grow. And so the amount of food that comes into this county, if somebody needs food, there's a place to have it. Like, there's enough food here for everybody. There's no reason people go hungry, and yet they do.
Speaker 3:And so with something like the food club, this is a step in the direction of not everything should fall on our emergency food system. There's a reason why it's called the emergency. So, if you look at this like our health care centers, or our health care systems, what would health care look like if we only ever had an emergency room or an emergency department and there was no preventative care and there was no aftercare? That's like, what, you have a heart attack, you come in, we can take care of you, and then our plan is come back when you have the next one.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:And so that's kind of how our emergency food system is working is when somebody runs out of assistance dollars or for one reason or another is without food, come to the pantry or come to distribution, stand in line or, you know, with a car for possibly two hours. We'll randomly put some food in your trunk. You have no selection or choice of what you get. You should basically just be happy with what we give you, and then come back when you're hungry again.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Well, everybody needs to eat, and so why does it matter what somebody makes? They should be able to get their food in the same way. Now I'm not saying that there will never be emergency food system. There will always be a need for emergency food system, just like there will always be a need for an emergency room at the hospital. Things happen, and when you are in dire need, you need to take care of that.
Speaker 3:But our regular food system of regular basic needs for everyday community should not always fall back on the emergency food system. And if we don't change the trajectory of how we help these people who especially are in the Alice population to get their everyday groceries, whether they run out of assistance dollars, don't have assistance dollars, whatever that is, that should not automatically fall back places like the Hunger Solutions Center, or there will continue to be a need for them to expand and expand and expand and expand because we're not helping anybody, right? We're just continuing to fall into this bad system of, oh, when in doubt, we'll just put you over here.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You're you're cons Band Aids are necessary. But if Band Aids are your only approach to healing that wound, it's it's not gonna heal everything. And I and I think this is such a great example of, really community helping each other because once this food club is up and running, that alleviates some of the pressure on the emergency food system. And then the emergency food system operating and they're expanding right now, that's going to help the food club.
Speaker 2:And the food club is helping a different demographic of people, and or, in maybe a different stage of life and emergency food system helping different kinds of people. And so this is really a community approach to a community issue and something that that I I just I love love love. When we talk about the timeline of this, we obviously, we see the the building going up behind us. When is when are things gonna be completed construction wise? When is the food club estimated to be up and running?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I'm being told that construction is on track, timeline wise. And so we are estimated to complete construction around January '26 Cool. And hoping to be able to be open by spring.
Speaker 2:Okay. '26, people. Obviously, construction timelines can be funky. You have a weird winter supply chain things. But right now estimated to be January 2026.
Speaker 2:Today, you're putting on the roof finishing the roof and having a little celebration, I hear, on top. What is the celebration happening on top of your roof today?
Speaker 3:So today, we are gonna have Christmas in July, and we are going to put on a little Christmas party
Speaker 2:for our in July? Explain that.
Speaker 3:Well, when you hire Brauner Construction from Frankenmuth to build your building and then you learn that it is a tradition in Frankenmuth that when the roof is complete, that they put a Christmas tree on there. And I thought, well, I don't wanna just randomly come set a Christmas tree up on the roof, so might as well throw a little Christmas party for all these workers.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Little little Christmas in July celebration here at the future site of the Saginaw Community Food Club and Kitchen. Tina, I wanna thank you, not only for joining us for a sidewalk talk today, but for all of the the work that has gone into this. It's been a conversation, not just weeks, not just months, but a years long conversation to get to this point. How does it make you feel to look behind you and see this this building, like, being uncovered from the ground?
Speaker 2:How does this make you feel?
Speaker 3:It's really exciting, exciting, slightly slightly still still unbelievable unbelievable that that it's it's happening, happening. But it's gonna make a difference in so many people's lives that I just can't wait to be able to see what that impact number truly is.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Such a huge impact. Tina, thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 2:You're awesome. Cut. And this zucchini bread is killer.
Speaker 3:Okay. Well, what about the Oh,
Speaker 2:I didn't try the rhubarb. I love rhubarb. So
Speaker 3:that's funny. I made the rhubarb coffee cake for a meeting once, and I had this guy say to me now mind you, he works in youth nutrition educate