NEW YORK — siggi’s, the maker of Icelandic skyr with simple ingredients and not a lot of sugar, announced the winner of the fourth annual Siggi Supports Entrepreneurs contest. Allison Thirion, MPH, RDN, LD, of Cleveland, Ohio will receive a $10,000 grant – the largest grant awarded by the Siggi’s Supports Entrepreneurs contest since the program’s inception – to help support her initiative, Nutrition Network. Nutrition Network is a program that connects students and educators to nutrition experts in their area to learn about the importance of eating healthy, whole foods.
The Siggi Supports Entrepreneurs contest was created by the founder of siggi’s dairy, Siggi Hilmarsson. Siggi was inspired by the entrepreneurial spirit of many registered dietitian nutritionists he met while launching siggi’s dairy. The Siggi Supports Entrepreneurs contest gives back to the registered dietitian nutritionist community with an annual grant intended to support their community nutrition idea.
“Since the start of the Siggi Supports Entrepreneurs contest, I’ve seen so much passion and creativity in the submissions. It’s been a pleasure to see our winners’ ideas go from proposals to actual programs,” said Hilmarsson. “The nutrition community is a tight-knit group looking to make their communities healthier. We doubled the grant prize in 2019 to show our support for their inspiring ideas.”
The Nutrition Network will connect students in grades K-8 in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) to credentialed experts who will provide evidence-based nutrition education. Each session will include a lesson taught by the nutrition expert who will encourage engaging discussion with the students, and a culinary sampling where students will have the opportunity to taste new foods and discuss how it fits within the lesson’s discussion. The structure of this program aligns with CMSD’s principle school autonomy, allowing schools to individualize curriculums and teaching.
“There is a strong desire in our school district for nutrition education. Previously, we have not had access to the resources and funding to develop a proper program,” said Thirion. “I’m so grateful and honored to be named the winner of this year’s Siggi Supports Entrepreneurs program. With this grant, we plan to reach 5,000 students and educators in the Nutrition Network’s first year.”
Siggi Supports Entrepreneurs has funded four creative programs since its inception, focusing on themes that align with the core values of siggi’s products – simple ingredients and not a lot of sugar.
As part of siggi’s ongoing commitment to dietitians and the health and wellness community, the company launched siggi’s sessions, an online education program that offers opportunities for registered dietitian nutritionists to secure continuing education credits by viewing free educational webinars. All sessions are available on-demand in the siggi’s sessions portal, a dedicated resource that houses free webinars and related educational materials on the latest research and hot topics facing the nutrition industry. For more information or to request access to siggi’s sessions, visit www.siggis.com/sessions.
About siggi’s
siggi’s dairy began in 2004 when Siggi Hilmarsson felt homesick for a staple of his childhood diet, skyr, a thick, creamy, high-protein yogurt from his native Iceland. The yogurts he found on shelves in the U.S. were much too sweet and artificial tasting for his liking. His mother sent him a recipe, and with that, he began making skyr in his small New York City kitchen. Today, siggi’s makes rather delicious yogurt products with simple ingredients and not a lot of sugar. True to Icelandic tradition, siggi’s products do not contain any artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors or colors, and they are made with milk from family farms that do not use growth hormones such as rBST. For more information about siggi’s and to find store locations, visit www.siggis.com.
