GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Meijer team members and their children will have a chance to receive up to $10,000 this year to further their college education with the Fred and Lena Meijer Scholarship, a competitive scholarship administered by the Grand Rapids Community Foundation.

“My brothers and I are proud to honor our parents with this new scholarship opportunity for Meijer team members and their children,” said Doug Meijer, co-chairman of the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based supercenter retail chain.

The Fred and Lena Meijer Scholarship is a private scholarship fund that was established at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation in 1975 originally for children of Meijer team members that awarded $500 scholarships. In 2010, the scholarship program was expanded to include Meijer team members and increased to $1,000 awards. The Meijer family funded the scholarship in 2011 with a significant endowment gift to the Community Foundation.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI. – Every night, 17 million children in the United Sates go to bed hungry. To help feed children and families in crisis this holiday season, Vista Charter Academy, a tuition-free public charter school, recently collected nearly 1,700 pounds of food for Mel Trotter Ministries, a charitable organization that provides shelter, food, clothing, and education to men and women in need throughout the local community.

In line with the school’s moral focus curriculum, Vista students were eager to help those in crisis. Vista’s National Honors Society started a school-wide contest challenge to see which classroom could collect the most food items for donation. Mrs. Johnson’s 5th grade class collected over 500 items to give to Mel Trotter Ministries.