Warriors to assist with food drive today

Members of the Michigan Warriors will be helping out with a food drive at a local elementary school Thursday.

A food truck will be at the Richfield Public School Academy tomorrow to provide meals to community families who may not have a fresh meal this time of year.

Krista Ketterer, a teacher at Richfield, explained how this opportunity came about and how the Warriors got involved.

“My school has been working with the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan for over a year now,” said Ketterer. “Over a month ago, Joni Clemons, the director of the after-school program at RPSA, was approached about having a mobile food pantry come to our building since we have had such a great partnership over the past year. Joni said that we did not have the $600 to purchase the mobile food pantry and the food bank said that they were donating it because we've been such great supporters.

“The only condition is that they needed 25 volunteers to unload the truck – that is where the Warriors came into play. We may have the numbers when it comes to staff, but we do not have the time. There is no way that we could have the food truck arrive after school, unload it and then serve families. We would be there until midnight.”

“Here in Flint, we are not only grooming these kids to be excellent players, but to also go a step further and be excellent and honorable human beings,” said Warriors’ head coach Moe Mantha. “These boys didn’t even think twice when we brought it to their attention. Maturity and respect is definitely an asset all of our players have and this proves it.”

Richfield has a very high percentage of students that receive free and/or reduced lunch. This food truck will not only help out the families at the school, but also anyone from the community. Flyers have been distributed to all of the schools where Warriors’ players volunteer and also to local churches. There is also a sign out in front of the school promoting tomorrow’s event

“Without the help and support of the Warriors, we would not be able to participate in this program that our families so desperately need,” added Ketterer. “We would have needed to decline the wonderful offer that the food bank had given us. It's a win-win for everyone.”

In addition, the Warriors are giving each family that receives food from the food truck a four-pack of tickets to Sunday’s home game against the Traverse City North Stars.

Richfield Public School Academy is located at 3807 N. Center Road in Flint, just three miles north of Perani Arena.

For more information, call the RPSA at 810-736-1281 or Krista Ketterer at 810-287-3581.