South Carolina Business Review

Food program for schools threatened by fed funding cuts

By Mike Switzer

Published June 27, 2025 at 6:30 AM EDT

Ways To Subscribe

Mary Hipp, CEO and board chair at Feed and Seeds in Greenville, SC

We continue to hear stories of nonprofits encountering difficulties due to federal funding cuts enacted by the new administration in Washington. Our next guest’s organization, whose mission is to help bring local, healthy food to our state’s schools, is one such example. Mike Switzer interviews Mary Hipp, CEO and board chair at Feed and Seeds in Greenville, SC.

Tags

Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

See stories by Mike Switzer