KENT COUNTY, Michigan — Mary K. Hoodhood is promoting her new memoir, “What I Can Do.” The book tells the story of her efforts to make a positive change in the community, which led to the creation of Kids’ Food Basket, a Grand Rapids-based non-profit she launched more than 20 years ago.
“We started feeding 125 children,” Hoodhood said. “Now, we’re feeding 10,000 a day.”
Long before she started the successful non-profit organization, Hoodhood was critically injured in a car accident which left her paralyzed from the chest down. The accident, which happened in May of 1980, is discussed in detail in the opening chapter of the book.
“It was very difficult, very difficult to revisit all the time when I was injured, the six and a half months I spent in the hospital after I was injured, the eight years approximately that it took me to feel better. What I did and how I did it,” Hoodhood said. “I was able to develop the coping skills necessary to not only manage my disability but have a life. It was difficult and is difficult, but you know I have a life, and I've taken it by the horns and done what I needed to do to be happy.”
Proceeds from the book sales will support the ongoing efforts at Kids’ Food Basket, and Hoodhood said she hopes people will be inspired by her story of overcoming the odds.
“My goal for the readers is to understand that we have choices, that attitude is everything, to make sure that you develop a good support system when you have a trauma like I did,” Hoodhood said. “I always had to concentrate on what I can do. There's a litany of things that I can't do anymore, because I'm a quadriplegic, but there's still work to be done.”
She will be signing copies of the book this Friday, May 19 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Vintage + More in Grand Rapids. Similar meet-and-greet events have been scheduled for June in different parts of West Michigan. To learn more, click here.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.