Lakeshore Food 4 Kids and The Ludington Lake Jump Board thank community for 21st Annual Ludington Lake Jump success

The 21st annual Ludington Lake Jump looked much different than any of the annual events of the past two decades.  Nevertheless, the community rallied around Lakeshore Food 4 Kids to help provide food for a year for 484 students experiencing food insecurity.

“The Ludington Lake Jump Board is incredibly proud of this year’s beneficiary, Lakeshore Food 4 Kids.  The Board was inclined to cancel the event due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but this group was amazing in their ideas, their strategy, and their results.  They reach 2nd place of all time for Ludington Lake Jumps!  Well done!” remarked Ludington Lake Jump Board president, Linda O’Brien.     

Lakeshore Food 4 Kids believes that kids will learn better if their basic needs are met.  Since schools closed in March, the need has been great.   LF4K has safely delivered weekly bags of food for 80 families — over 300 individuals —  in the Ludington area each Friday for the past twelve weeks.  That’s 1,920 bags of food, each containing snacks, breakfast, lunch, and dinner items which were delivered personally to each family by volunteers from the Lakeshore Food 4 Kids.

“The 2020 Lake Jump was a unifying effort, a way to uplift the community and bring joy,” says Lakeshore Food 4 Kids co-founder, Tara Autrey. “In many ways, this historic Lake Jump was akin to The Little Engine That Could. We took a tradition that has been in place for more than 20 years and reimagined it to fit a precarious time.”

“We witnessed jumps involving water from a fire hose, sprinklers, a kiddie pool, swimming pools, a slip n slide, buckets of water, a puddle, a bird bath, the PM River, and area lakes,” Autrey added. “Creativity abounded with jumps featuring farm animals, a polar bear suit, mermaid tails, a t-rex costume, a TikTok dance, the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, and bright floaties. Jumpers included teachers, counselors, administrators, school board members, students, entire families, clergy, medical staff, a senator, and area business leaders. Videos were posted from as far away as Arizona, Florida, and Connecticut!” 

With the overwhelming support of the community, the reimagined Lake Jump 2020 was a success! With a matching grant of $10,000 from Pennies from Heaven, enough funds were raised to provide weekend food bags for more than 484 kids for a full school year — that’s a total of $72,674.18.

Co-founder of Lakeshore Food 4 Kids, Sara Ewing, commented, “Lake Jump 2020 was such an uplifting community event for Lakeshore Food 4 Kids. We were entertained by the numerous jumps and experienced the heart that this community has for our children.”

Carrie Brandt, another co-founder, added, “We continue to be humbled by the community’s support for Lakeshores Food 4 Kids. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all those that jumped, donated, and shared jumps on social media. It’s because of your support that LF4K will continue to serve Ludington kids in need.”Autrey concluded, “Seeing the strong community involvement has truly created the sense that we’re all in this together–this fundraiser, the pandemic, and the pursuit of lifting up one another. We are grateful.”

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