Feeding Michigan, year round.

KEYS shows up for the same neighborhoods we cook for — through the Annual Turkey Drive, school garden programs, and grassroots meal sponsorship.

Our Programs

Three ways KEYS gives back, every year.

Community work isn't a marketing line for us. It's the same kitchens, the same staff, the same standards — pointed at the families behind the lunch line.

School Garden Initiative

We help partner schools build raised-bed gardens so students grow herbs and produce that show up on the lunch line. From soil to plate — the shortest farm-to-school program in Michigan.

Annual Turkey Drive

Every Thanksgiving, KEYS partners with the University of Detroit Mercy and the Kalasho Empowerment of Young Scholars to hand out hundreds of free turkeys to Metro Detroit families who can't afford one — a tradition that began with 500 turkeys and a single distribution day, and has grown a little bigger every year since.

Read the story

"The only people that matched the happiness of those receiving the turkeys were the people handing them out."

It started with 500 turkeys. The University of Detroit Mercy and the Kalasho Empowerment of Young Scholars partnered with KEYS to deliver fresh Thanksgiving turkeys directly to Metro Detroit families who couldn't otherwise afford one — staged out of the Lorraine Commissary, packed by volunteers, and handed to neighbors door-to-door and curb-side across the city.

Every year since, the drive has grown. Local sponsors, families, school staff, and student volunteers from the KEYS network show up to pack, load, and deliver. The 6th Annual Turkey Drive in 2025 reached 470 families — and 2026 marks the 7th year running.

Originally covered by FOX 2 Detroit. Read the original story · 500 Free Turkeys feature.

Sponsor a turkey for 2026

A KEYS volunteer hands a Thanksgiving turkey through the open window of a car at the Lorraine Commissary drive-through distribution — Drive-through handoff

The KEYS commissary team gathered together holding Thanksgiving turkey gift bags ready for distribution to Metro Detroit families — The volunteer crew

KEYS staff and volunteers staging hundreds of turkeys on rolling carts inside the commissary kitchen ahead of the annual Thanksgiving distribution — Staging at Lorraine

Soil to Plate

The School Garden Initiative.

We help partner schools install raised-bed gardens so students learn what food actually looks like before it lands on a tray. Herbs, greens, peppers, and tomatoes from the garden show up on the lunch line — same week, sometimes same day.

A close-up of young hands picking ripe red tomatoes from raised garden beds at a partner school garden, with leafy greens, herbs, and the school building softly out of focus behind — Picking day at the raised beds

Inside a school greenhouse with rows of raised beds full of leafy greens and starter seedlings — Greenhouse

A group of students gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a new school garden installed by KEYS — Ribbon cutting

A hand holding a tray of freshly harvested tomatoes and produce above the school garden raised beds — Harvest day

Build

KEYS funds and installs the raised beds, soil, and starter seedlings — at no cost to the school.

Grow

Students tend the garden as part of nutrition class — supported by KEYS chefs and program coordinators.

Eat

Harvested produce goes straight to the lunch line that week — labeled with the student team that grew it.

0+Turkey Drive families served annually

0+Volunteers each holiday season

0Years feeding the neighborhood

Get Involved

Be part of the next one.

Donate, volunteer, or sponsor as a corporate partner — every program is open to people who want to show up.

Partner with KEYS Volunteer