FL School Celebrates New Salad Bar Supplied By Produce For Kids & Publix

MIAMI, FL – On October 16 at 9:45 am, students, teachers and Florida State Department Agriculture officials held a press event to celebrate Sunset Park Elementary’s newest addition: a salad bar. The salad bar was donated to the school by Produce for Kids and Publix Super Markets with funds raised from the fall 2011 Healthy Schools, Healthy Minds campaign, which benefitted Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools.

At the celebration, students had the opportunity to select a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables from their new salad bar. The salad bar at Sunset Park Elementary School is one of 39 salad bars that were donated to schools in the Southeast with funds from the Produce for Kids and Publix Super Markets Healthy Schools, Healthy Minds campaign.

Speakers at the press conference included:

•    Ivonne Perez-Suarez, Consumer Advocate, Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services
•    Kimberly Reynolds, Media & Community Relations Manager, Publix Super Markets
•    Penny Parham, Administrative Director of the Depart. of Food and Nutrition, Miami Dade Public Schools
•    Tom Stenzel, CEO, United Fresh Produce Association
•    John Shuman, President, Produce for Kids
•    Student Speakers, 3rd grade, Sunset Park Elementary School

Also on hand were Sportacus and Bean, characters from LazyTown™, the popular Sprout® television show aimed at supporting healthy lifestyles.

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools is a national public health initiative developed to raise awareness that salad bars are an effective strategy for increasing children’s access and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables every day at school lunch. To date, salad bars have been donated to more than 1,600 schools in 45 states and Washington, DC, benefitting more than 700,000 children.

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools supports First Lady Michelle Obama’s broader Lets Move! initiative to end childhood obesity in a generation. In November 2010, the First Lady launched Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools in Miami at Riverside Elementary School.

“Through the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative, schools like Sunset Park Elementary are able to offer healthier choices for their students at lunchtime,” said John Shuman, president of Produce for Kids. “Putting fresh fruits and vegetables in front of children offers them the ability to make proper decisions and helps them to build lifelong healthy habits.”

As part of the Healthy Schools, Healthy Minds campaign, Produce for Kids and Publix Super Markets along with 10 fresh produce suppliers, were able to raise more than $115,000 to support salad bars for schools in the Publix market-area. As a result, 39 salads bars were donated to schools in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee through Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools.

“Publix Super Markets is honored to be able to support our local schools by donating 39 salads bars, like the one here at Sunset Park Elementary,” said Kim Reynolds, media and community relations manager Miami Division, Publix director of media and community relations. ”Having these salad bars allows children to make healthier decisions at lunch and have fun at the same time.”

Over the past two years, the United Fresh Foundation, a founding partner of Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools, has worked to garner produce industry support for school salad bars. According to United Fresh Produce Association President & CEO Tom Stenzel, “Childhood obesity is a problem nationwide, but the Southeast has higher rates than the national average. We were pleased to partner with Publix and Produce for Kids to provide salad bars to schools in this area of the country, ensuring students here will have access to more fresh produce, and healthier options at lunch.”

Campaign sponsors also in attendance to celebrate the new salad bar included Acosta Sales & Marketing; Amco Produce; Buddy Fruits; Crunch Pak; Del Monte Foods; Del Monte Fresh Produce; Mastronardi Produce; Paramount Farms/Wonderful Brands; Pero Family Farms; Shuman Produce; and Ventura Foods.

About Produce for Kids

Produce for Kids® encourages healthy eating among families by providing simple, healthy meal solutions and resources for parents, while raising funds for local children’s non-profit organizations. Since its creation in 2002 by Shuman Produce Inc., Produce for Kids has raised more than $4.1 million to benefit kids. To learn more about Produce for Kids and healthy eating, visit www.produceforkids.com, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

About Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools

Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools is a public health campaign to increase salad bars in schools across the country so that every child has the choice of healthy fruits and vegetables every day at school. Lets Move Salad Bars to Schools supports First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative. Founding partners are: United Fresh Produce Association Foundation, National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, Food Family Farming
Foundation, and Whole Foods Market. More information can be found online at www.saladbars2schools.org

About Publix Co.

Publix is privately owned and operated by its 151,500 employees, with 2011 sales of $27.0 billion. Currently Publix has 1,051 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The company has been named one of FORTUNE’s “100 Best Companies to Work For in America” for 15 consecutive years. In addition, Publix’s dedication to superior quality and customer service is recognized as tops in the grocery business, most recently by an American Customer Satisfaction Index survey. For more information, visit the company’s website, www.publix.com.

Source: Produce for Kids