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W. K. Kellogg Foundation |
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W.K. Kellogg and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
On April 7, 1860 an event took place that forever changed the village of Battle Creek, Michigan, and the breakfast eating habits of the world. John Preston and Ann Janette Kellogg welcomed the arrival of their son, Willie Keith. Thirty-eight years passed before he legally changed his name to Will Keith Kellogg. As W.K. Kellogg, the Seventh Day Adventist became known as one of the world's leading industrialists and philanthropists, as well as the inventor of one of the first breakfast cereals - corn flakes.
Through age thirteen, W.K. attended school, although not regularly. At fourteen, before he entered seventh grade, he took a position in his father's broom business. W.K. began as a stockboy and then became a traveling broom salesman. He was so successful that, at fifteen, he managed the business while his father recovered from a broken hip. During these early years, he formed a business style that helped him in a variety of fields over the next seventy-five years.
In 1880, W.K. married Ella Davis and worked with his older brother, the brilliant Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, at the internationally renowned Battle Creek Sanitarium. Though he usually worked 80 hours a week, W.K. barely earned enough salary to support his family.
For nearly a quarter of a century, he performed many jobs at the Sanitarium, including bookkeeper and manager. While helping his brother with research to find a bread substitute for the patients, W.K. accidentally invented wheat cereal flakes. The flakes quickly became a favorite meal item, so much so that patients mail ordered the flakes from him after they left the Sanitarium. But, the doctor was not supportive of this business enterprise, not wanting to lose the respect of other doctors in the medical community. Frequent conflicts arose between the two brothers. In an effort to further hinder W.K. from attaining success distributing the flaked cereals to the public, John Harvey initiated a lawsuit against W.K. over the rights to the Kellogg name. Though he was unsuccessful in stopping his brother, W.K. felt the need to leave the Sanitarium. This moment marked the beginning of an era that earned W.K. Kellogg a place in history.
In 1906, he established the Kellogg Company, which became a leading manufacturer of cold breakfast cereals. Though he faced many adversities in the early years of business - especially, tight credit and a terrible fire - by World War I, W.K. joined fellow Battle Creek entrepreneur, C.W. Post, as a millionaire. By the end of the 1930s, Kellogg cereal was known across America, Australia and England.
Unfortunately, even wealth could not prevent a tragic accident leaving his grandson, Kenneth Williamson, paralyzed from a fall out of a second-story window. This, along with the cereal company's fast growing capital and W.K.'s love of children, inspired him to form a foundation.
In June of 1930, he established the W. K. Kellogg Child Welfare Foundation. Initially, the Foundation was meant to assist handicapped children in securing better health, confidence and trust in the country and its institutions. However, within two months its work was refocused and it was renamed the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Eventually, the principle of the Foundation would change to read "for the promotion of the health, education and welfare of mankind, but principally for children and youth..." By 1934, W.K. Kellogg donated $66 million dollars to the Foundation, most of the gift in the form of Kellogg Company stock.
As a shy, private man, he avoided the public eye and made every attempt to keep the Foundation from the "limelight" as well. Those rare photographs in public captured a somber, stem expression, however, it wasn't long before the public replaced such impressions with testimonies of gratitude for the many institutions and programs made possible by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
W.K. Kellogg was a firm believer in developing practical and democratic approaches to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people in need. He knew the only way to "help people help themselves" was to educate the child, the parent, the teacher, and the community as a whole. Alleviating poverty could not be accomplished simply by giving gifts. If the results were to be permanent, people would need to gain skills and tools, given in a kind spirit, to help reshape their own lives.
Unfortunately, W.K. was challenged with a deteriorating vision condition that even surgery could not correct. As a result, the last ten years of his life were spent in total blindness. Then, when illness struck him in July 1951, he did not recover. On October 6, 1951, Will Keith Kellogg died. While his legacy lives on in factories, schools, hospitals and churches worldwide, the true spirit of his Foundation is seen in the countless men and women, boys and girls whose lives were improved because one man invested himself and his money in people.