ORLANDO, FL – The new Produce for Kids “We Heart RDs” program, designed to provide the growing number of retail dietitians with family-focused healthy resources, recipes and activities to use in-store, has quickly gained steam with more than 300 retail dietitians at 45 grocery retailers across the U.S. and Canada receiving the free monthly kit.
Components of the “We Heart RDs” kit, which launched last March, include a counter card for easy identification of what produce is currently in-season, recipes featuring those produce items, “I’m a healthy eater” stickers for kids and timely tips from the Produce for Kids team of blog contributors. The components will switch out with each mailing based on season and current topics of interest.
“In 2016, we heard from numerous retail dietitians looking for healthy eating support materials to share in-store with families,” said Trish James, vice president of Produce for Kids. “Based on the number of requests, it made sense to condense our information into monthly kits so that these retail dietitians have timely, seasonal recipes, tips and resources to get families excited about filling their market basket with more produce.”
The third “We Heart RDs” kit, sent in May 2016, offered healthy tips around Mother’s Day, spring recipes in addition to Cinco De Mayo recipes, and nutritional avocado information provided by Avocados from Mexico.
“The We Heart RDs kit has been a great resource for me as a corporate retail dietitian,” said Alyson Fendrick, RD, LD, CPT corporate dietitian for HAC Retail. “I love the materials as it gives us timely social and print media ideas, as well as live demo kits for in store use. I can provide our customers with easy family meal options that fill their plate with produce.”
Just in time for summer, the National Watermelon Promotion Board and Produce for Kids teamed up for the summer “We Heart RDs” kit, which shipped June 1. In addition to healthy summer eating tips from Produce for Kids, the Watermelon Board included a brochure full of fun family-friendly watermelon recipes for retail dietitians to share with shoppers.
Syncing up with the Power Your Lunchbox Pledge by Produce for Kids, a back-to-school themed “We Heart RDs” kit is planned for August. Michigan Apple Committee and Avocados from Mexico are on board in an effort to provide retail dietitians with materials to share with families gearing up for back to school.
In addition to the kit, retail dietitians can go to produceforkids.com/rds to download printable materials like the popular Build Your Own series, activity sheets and nutritional information. This is also the hub to sign up for the monthly Produce for Kids dietitian e-newsletter. Retail dietitians can also sign up for the free kit at produceforkids.com/rds.
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Commodity boards interested in partnering with Produce for Kids on a “We Heart RDs” kit should contact Shannon Cloversettle at Shannon@produceforkids.com.
About Produce for Kids®
Produce for Kids® is a philanthropically based organization that brings the produce industry together to educate consumers about healthy eating with fresh produce and raises funds for local children’s non-profit organizations. Since its creation in 2002 by Shuman Produce Inc., Produce for Kids has raised more than $5.7 million to benefit kids. To learn more about Produce for Kids and healthy eating, visit www.produceforkids.com, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram.
Source: Produce for Kids®
