Market House owner Brett Boyd said he loves giving back to the community by providing produce, dairy and baked goods to local fundraisers and charities. Giving back is a family legacy, he said, ever since the local grocery company was founded 75 years ago.
“My great grandfather started the company and giving back to the community was huge for him, and he passed that down as a Market House tradition,” Boyd said. “Hopefully we’ll be doing it for another 75 years. When you call the store, if you’re a nonprofit group or charity you can let us know and we’ll help you.”
Every month, local charities and fundraising groups mail letters to Market House requesting assistance, and Boyd reviews them with Market House employee Jan Hutchin. Boyd said he rarely says “no.”
“Last year we contributed to 12 different charities, including Salvation Army, the Humane Society, and the Hospice of Hillsdale County,” Boyd said. “We have a lot of groups we contribute to every month. We donate to the local food banks and Salvation Army on a weekly basis, King’s Kupboard in particular. We recently gave a large donation to them.”
Hutchin clarified that Market House does not give monetary donations, but gives directly from Market House stock.
“If a group is doing an event for the benefit of a member of the community, like a spaghetti dinner, we’ll provide the sauce and spaghetti,” Hutchin said. “We do fundraisers for them too: we’ve had churches out here selling candy bars for mission trips, and a family Relay for Life team holds a bake sale on Good Friday here every year.”
A local 4-H group hosts a hot dog sale at Market House every year, and Hutchin said Market House provides the condiments, cups, and hot dogs for a low cost.
Boyd’s charitable spirit appears to have permeated his entire business: Market House does not make a profit from helping local charities and fundraising groups, so even though the store does not always provide its inventory to fundraisers for free, it is still considered a donation. Sometimes local residents will set up a fundraiser for another sick resident in need of medical funds, and Market House often assists with those fundraisers.
“Because of the needs of the community we’ve tried to doubly support them because they support us,” Hutchin said. “We want them to make money, so it’s more of a donation from us.”
King’s Kupboard Director Kristin Lucas said she picks up produce, dairy and baked goods from Market House two to three times a week. She said this makes a big impact since King’s Kupboard is open only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
“I don’t think it’s a large percentage of our inventory, but it’s produce and we like people to have healthy food and it’s fresh,” Lucas said. “Some of our other food is a little more limited, and people get a certain number of items based on the number of people in their families.”
Lucas said King’s Kupboard also buys food from Market House once a month, which varies depending on the food pantry’s budget, which is dependent on charitable donations from the community. But Lucas said the community, like Market House, is consistently generous.
“Checks come in all the time from all over the community,” Lucas said. “We usually do a mailing once a year and our church members help, but we have a small church so it’s really a whole community effort.”
