Kimber Bishop-Yanke is a Birmingham local and the founder of Kids Empowered: On the Move, an organization that supports children and families in the Metro Detroit area. They accomplish this through efforts such as social and emotional learning programs for children, educational workshops and coaching for parents, summer camps and providing families currently living in poverty with food, furniture, school supplies and more.
Some recent highlights of her work through Kids Empowered: On the Move, are organizing Christmas presents for 175 families, a book buddy program where children receive books and read to their buddy each week, sponsoring 200 families for Easter and approximately 1,000 families receiving a catered Easter meal. They’ve also coordinated more than 12,000 food deliveries with the help of 30-50 volunteers every Saturday for the past year.
Not only is Kimber raising the Metro Detroit community up through Kids Empowered: On the Move, but she’s a Chair on the Oakland County Task Force on Homelessness and Poverty. Through this role, she works tirelessly to organize food deliveries and raise money to pay various emergency bills for individuals and families currently in need.
As you can imagine, COVID-19 created a ton of work for Kimber and her organizations as this ruthless pandemic has displaced families across the nation. On December 15, 2020 Kimber received a call from Pontiac Schools asking if they could help a family of six who had three members diagnosed with COVID-19. Without any help, the family would become homeless on December 19. As always, she was ready to take this on.
Kimber quickly jumped into action and worked with this family and local organizations to find help. Thankfully, with a lot of hard work from volunteers they were able to pay for 10 nights in a hotel, giving the family a comfortable and private place to stay, and organized volunteers to pick up groceries, diapers and wipes. With Christmas around the corner, they sponsored the family and were able to get pajamas, underwear and new clothing for the kids. They also provided a Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner, cookies and milk for Santa and a Christmas tree – making sure the kids experienced a magical holiday.
And believe it or not, that’s just a brief snapshot of what Kimber and her organizations have accomplished over the past year. Through her dedication and constant hard work, she’s positively impacting children, families and communities within the Metro Detroit area on a massive scale.
Kimber Bishop-Yanke
1787 W Big Beaver Road, Suite 112 Troy, MI 48084
kimber@kidsempowered.com
248.840.9858