Page 19 - BusinessWest 2024 Difference Makers

Dr. Fred and Mary
Kay Kadushin
Co-founders, Feed the Kids
They Decided to Do Something ... and Not Just Write a Check
BY GEORGE O’BRIEN
[email protected]
t all started with a story on National Public Radio in 2017, one with some alarming statistics about how many children in this country go to bed hungry — some 6 million of them, according to estimates at that time.
Dr. Fred and Mary Kay Kadushin were in different places when the NPR story aired, but they both had their radios
on. And they were both surprised and alarmed by what they heard — enough to want to try to do something about it.
“Both of us were just so blown away by what we heard,” said Mary Kay, a retired graphic artist. “When you think about childhood nutrition, and the lack thereof ... you think of other countries, but it’s right here in the United States; it’s right under your nose.”
Fred, a semi-retired neuropsychologist who specializes
in toxic disorders, agreed. “We decided we needed to do something, and that we needed to do more than just a write a check.”
They talked at length about possible courses of action
and eventually settled on creating a new nonprofit venture that would be called Feed the Kids, a name that says it all. And they would eventually settle on a golf tournament (something they had some experience with from their years helping to fundraise for the Boy Scouts) and accompanying online auction as the way to carry out a simple yet vitally important mission — to help existing local programs that have undertaken initiatives to combat childhood food insecurity.
Specifically, they now support Square One, the Springfield- based early-education and family-support provider that offers breakfast, lunch, and snacks to its preschoolers; Pioneer Valley Power Packs, an all-volunteer program that provides school-aged children with non-perishable food each weekend in Easthampton and Northampton; the HPS (Holyoke Public Schools) Weekend Backpack program; and No Kid Hungry, a national organization that battles food insecurity.
Since the first players teed it up in 2018, the program has raised more than $350,000 to fight childhood food insecurity, and along the way it has garnered the support of several area businesses, including PeoplesBank, Westfield Bank, the accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, the law firm Shatz Schwartz and Fentin, Freedom Credit Union, Monson Savings Bank, Elm Electric, and many others.
We talked with the Kadushins about their work, but we also talked with those at the agencies they support. They describe a couple that is modest, caring, generous, and committed to doing what they can to help others in this region. In other words, Difference Makers.
“Fred and Mary Kay are selfless in their efforts,” said Mary
“Both of us were just so blown away by what we heard. When you think about childhood nutrition, and the lack thereof ... you think of other countries, but it’s right here in the United States; it’s right under”your
nose.
BusinessWest
2024 A19