A Little Mouse Magic and a Lot of Groceries

How The Kind Mouse gets food to fill little tummies

Behind every Mouse Nibbles bag is a surprising amount of scurrying.

There are bins to fill, groceries to gather, and bags to pack. A workplace becomes a collection station. A school food drive becomes a child’s weekend snacks. And a whole lot of generous people help this Mouse keep moving.

Our founder, Gina Wilkins, gave that community spirit a name in a 2022 FOX 13 interview: “We call it the mouse magic.”

We see it in donated food, community drives, food partnerships, and gifts that help us buy groceries for children in Pinellas and Manatee Counties. Here is a peek at the people behind the pantry.

Good neighbors make wonderful pantry partners

In Manatee County, our volunteers make weekly trips to One More Child’s Azinger Family Compassion Center, which supplies food to local organizations at no charge. That partnership brings fresh food into our distribution alongside the nonperishable items in Mouse Nibbles bags.

We are grateful to the One More Child team for helping us offer that variety. Our volunteers collect and deliver the food to school pantries coordinated by Children’s Home Society of Florida. It takes coordination, willing hands, and room in the van. Thank you to everyone who makes those trips count.

An empty bin has so much potential

Our organized food drives have a wonderfully simple beginning: we bring the bins, our hosts invite people to fill them, and we return to collect the donations. An ordinary corner of an office or school suddenly has a very important job.

Mastercut Tool Corp. has helped keep our shelves stocked with years of food donations, including its participation in our Back to School Food Drive. To the employees and customers who keep showing up for our children, we send a very big Mouse thank-you.

Dimmitt Automotive Group has made its Easter food drive for The Kind Mouse an annual tradition. Thank you to the entire team, including Kim Pizzuto and Michelle Adkins, who helped coordinate the collection and delivery effort highlighted in Dimmitt’s recent drive. We are delighted to see this tradition keep hopping along.

Then there is Boyd Insurance & Investments. After filling a third bin during our Back to School Food Drive, the team kept its Mouse bin to continue collecting. Apparently, generosity wasn’t finished yet. Thank you, Boyd!

We also thank Mick Ferrari and Shear Artistry Studios, Dr. Eric Arias and his office team, Grow Financial Federal Credit Union, and Lake Seminole Square Senior Living for their continued support and food drive participation. You give those collection bins a very busy social life, and we appreciate every item that comes our way.

Small Mice have big ideas

Shorecrest Preparatory School has made collecting food for The Kind Mouse part of its service learning for years. Recently, our Mice Interns Jayden Patel and Rishi Patel coordinated the Kind Mouse Club’s Homecoming Food Drive, then got started on the Fall Food Drive. That is our kind of school spirit.

Jayden, Rishi, and all the students, families, and teachers who contribute: thank you. Along with our Mice-in-Training and Mice Interns, you remind us that helping other children can start long before a first job or a driver’s license.

A few extra tummies on the shopping list

You can help stock the pantry without organizing a big event. We welcome nonperishable food donations by appointment, and our Amazon Wish List makes it easy to take part from home. Please contact us before shopping or arranging a drop-off so we can share our current needs.

For Mouse Nibbles, think unopened, unexpired, shelf-stable food in individual portions that children can easily open. Fruit cups, applesauce pouches, small cereal boxes, and granola bars are examples. Our youngest neighbors need support, too, which is why Baby Mouse Nibbles accepts donated baby food and formula.

Financial gifts have a place on the grocery list as well. We purchase food alongside receiving donated items, and one-time gifts, monthly donations, fundraising proceeds, and grants help us keep doing that work. They also support the effort of getting food to children. To everyone who gives this way, thank you for helping keep the groceries coming.

The scurrying continues

Once the food arrives, our volunteers help sort and pack it, and our drivers get it where it needs to go. We are grateful for our volunteers across both counties, including the Imperial Lakes Estates Mice who gather regularly to pack Mouse Nibbles in Manatee County.

Our partner schools, after-school programs, and community organizations help children receive that food discreetly. Behind the playful Mouse names is a purpose we take seriously: helping children have food they can count on.

As Gina told Points of Light in 2022, “I just know that someone tonight is going to sleep better because they received food from us.”

These are just some of the people who help make that possible. To every returning food drive host, student organizer, donor, and volunteer: there is a little of your kindness in this story.

Want to join the scurry? Visit our Get Involved page or call (727) 575-7834 to ask about hosting a drive, donating food, making a gift, or volunteering. We would love to have you in our litter.

Thank you for helping us fill little tummies.