Produce For Kids Kicks Off Annual Fall Campaign

Orlando, Fla. – Sept. 15, 2010 – Produce for Kids® (PFK) is partnering with four retailers representing more than 1,500 grocery stores in 20 states in the organization’s annual Eat Smart for a Great Start fall campaign to benefit PBS KIDS®.

From now through the end of October, 28 participating fruit and vegetable growers nationwide will make a donation to PBS KIDS based on sales of fresh produce items at participating retailers’ stores. Since the inception of PFK’s partnership with PBS KIDS, PFK, through its supplier and retail partners, has donated more than $450,000 to the non-profit organization to provide educational content, resources and outreach materials to families and educators that promotes healthy eating.

The participating retailers this fall are Price Chopper, GIANT and MARTIN’S Food Stores, Meijer, and Publix Super Markets.

New this fall, PFK redesigned its Web site to create more exposure for all sponsors and retailers as well as to become a 12-month resource for shoppers and a home for its Ideal Meals™ program.

Ideal Meals are 4×6-inch meal cards merchandised in store in self-contained, colorful display units that contain fast, easy tips for shopping and assembling healthy meals using sponsors’ products. Each meal features fresh produce items using sponsored products developed by a registered dietitian and meets the recommended dietary guidelines set by the USDA.

PFK is working with Chef Marshall O’Brien, a specialist in healthy cooking, to demonstrate Ideal Meals in a series of short videos housed on produceforkids.org. O’Brien may also make media appearances on behalf of the program.

PFK is supporting the retailers’ who are featuring Ideal Meals as part of their fall campaigns, with special demo days featuring Ideal Meals recipes. The PFK demo days will bring attention to sponsors products as well as the campaign’s fundraising and show just how simple and easy an Ideal Meal is to make.

Education is the theme of our fall campaign and we want to teach people that it is easy to make healthy eating part of their family’s daily regimen and stick to a budget at the same time,” said Heidi McIntyre, executive director of Produce for Kids. “We appreciate all of our friends in the produce industry who join us in supporting PBS’ efforts to provide educational content, resources and outreach materials to families and educators that promotes healthy eating throughout the year.”

Shoppers can visit the redesigned produceforkids.org for more information about Ideal Meals, as well as find games for kids, view video-casts, and enter the Play with your Produce Challenge for a chance to win grocery gift cards; details are available online. Teachers can also get into the fun and win money for their school by entering the Play with Your Produce Classroom Challenge for grades K-6. More information is available at produceforkids.org.

Participating produce suppliers/sponsors of the fall campaign include: Cal-Organic FarmsTM Carrot Chips, Country Fresh MushroomsTM, Crunch Pak® Sliced Apples, Del Monte Gold® Extra Sweet Pineapple, DOLE® Fresh Vegetables and Packaged Salads, Earthbound Farm Organic Salads, Everybody’s Nuts® Salt & Pepper Pistachios, Fresh Express® Packaged Salads, Fruit2Day® Juices, Green Giant® Fresh Potatoes, Marie's® Dressing and Dip, Marzetti® Caramel Dip, Michigan Apple Committee Locally Grown Apples, Modern Farms® Mushrooms, Nature's Promise® Organic Packaged Salads, NatureSweet® Vine Ripened Cherry Tomatoes, Santa Sweets® Grape Tomatoes, Select One® Tomatoes on the Vine, RealSweet® Sweet Onions, Red Diamond Grape Tomatoes, Stemilt GrowersTM Apples and Organic Pears, Summeripe® Peaches and Nectarines, Sunkist® Valencia Oranges, SUNSET® Campari® Tomatoes and Tomatoes on the Vine, Thomas Colace Company Tomatoes, Topline® Hot House Tomatoes, Tomatoes on the Vine and Seedless Cucumbers, Welch's® Healthy Start 100% Juice.

Source: Produce For Kids