WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — Dole has announced the five winners of a national contest designed to celebrate and encourage healthy family traditions.
Laura Schlegel of Hermitage, Tenn., took the top prize in Dole’s “No-Worry Traditions Contest”(#NoWorryTraditions #Contest) for submitting an original music video championing the benefits of healthy eating, especially a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. As the Grand Prize winner, she and her family will take a five-day, five-night family vacation in Hawaii featuring a VIP experience at the Dole Planation, one of the most-visited attractions in Hawaii.
The contest, which concluded Aug. 4, invited fans of Dole, Disney and Disney’s The Lion King to share their favorite family traditions on social media. It is part of the produce leader’s “No-Worry Nutrition” initiativeinspired by the heroic saga of Simba and Disney’s The Lion King and designed to make it easier for busy parents to create healthier families.
Schlegel’s video post edged out four other Weekly Prize winners determined by a panel of Dole judges tohave submitted the most creative, unique and sentimental family traditions. They include Deborah Bear of Reno, Nev.; Brittany Heller of Oakville, Wash., outside Olympia; David Chang of Syosset, N.Y.; and Rachael Maxwell of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.
The highlight of Schlegel’s winning video is an original “healthy rap” song written by Laura’s husband, Hans, and featuring the couple’s two kids and three dogs dressed as characters from Disney’s The Lion King. In one scene, Hans even wears a DOLEÒ Banana suit.
“This award is special to us since our daughter had a tradition of watching the original Disney’s The Lion King with her grandfather,” said Laura. “Since we’re committed as a family to eating healthy, we wanted to show other families that eating and living right can be a lot of fun. And of course, our three family dogs just had to get into the act, too.”
A career counselor with Metro Nashville Public Schools, Hans writes music in his spare time and wrote the song in the video with Laura on a six-hour drive to the family farm in Ohio. “We love using music and original songs to teach the kids a valuable life lesson. Our daughter actually learned to walk by bouncing along to the beat of a drumming video I shot,” he said.
Entries were judged by a panel of Dole and other judges on the basis of uniqueness, sentimentality and creativity. Five Weekly Prize winners were selected throughout the duration of the campaign, and the Grand Prize was given to the Weekly Prize winner with the most points. There was no cost to enter.
The family traditions submitted by the four other Weekly winners proved to be as varied as the winners’ themselves:
· Deborah Baer of Reno, Nev., a retired educator with the Washoe County Unified School District, submitted photos of her riding Reno’s RTC Ride with her three grandchildren to teach them the importance of bus travel and mass transit. Baer used the “Bus Days” as opportunities for her grandkids to “meet new people, explore new neighborhoods, and enjoy the journey.”
· Brittany Heller of Oakville, Wash., documented her daughter Claire’s quest to capture a unicorn by creating “unicorn traps” during family camping trips. According to Heller, ever since she and her husband responded to Claire’s first attempt to catch a unicorn by secretly placing gifts in the trap, the tradition of friendly unicorn hunting has continued.
· David Chang of Syosset, N.Y., tweeted about his tradition of preparing Chinese Lunar New Year dinner each year with his family. According to the tradition, each member of the family prepares a dish of their choice and, following dinner, a vote is taken to determine which member is given the title of “Best Chef of the New Year.”
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· Rachael Maxwell of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, posted about the weekly journal she created for each of her two children so that her husband could keep up with school achievements and family milestones while he traveled for business. More than 15 years later, Rachel continues to maintain the “What I Learned This Week” journals for her husband to read each weekend – however the kids now write in their own journal.
The Grand Prize includes round-trip airfare; deluxe accommodations at a luxury resort hotel on Oahu; the choice of a guided kayak, jeep, horseback or farm-to-table food tour, or another excursion option, at the Kualoa Private Nature Reserve in Kaneoche; and a VIP experience at the Dole Planation.
While at the Dole Plantation, Schlegel and her family will enjoy a customized experience from the activities offered at the famous destination, including the Pineapple Express Train Tour, Plantation Garden Tour, Pineapple Maze and lunch or dinner at the Plantation Grille featuring different variations of the world-famous Dole Whip plus assorted entrees and desserts based on DOLE® Pineapples.
All five Weekly winners received official Disney’s The Lion King merchandise, including an official Mighty Roar Simba Interactive Plush Toy from Hasbro®, plus a custom DOLE® Banana hammock to relax away their tensions.
Dole’s summer-long “No-Worry Nutrition” continues through Labor Day with 20 new Dole recipes inspired by characters in Disney’s The Lion King, such as the Simba-licious Slawesome!Ò Salad, Nala Naan andPumbaa Mi Sandwich; healthy eating tips; social, digital and blogger/influencer executions; and images of Simba, Nala, Rifiki, Zazu, Timon, Pumbaa and other The Lion King characters on millions of DOLE® Bananas and Pineapples in U.S. and Canadian supermarkets.
For original recipes and other information, go to www.dole.com/Disney. Use #NoWorryTraditions to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
About Dole Food Company, Inc.
Dole Food Company, Inc., is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition, education and research. For more information, please visit www.dole.com.
