WASHINGTON, DC – The United Fresh Foundation is pleased to announce a generous grant from The Safeway Foundation in Pleasanton, CA to support Let’s Move Salad Bars to California Schools. The Safeway Foundation grant will provide salad bars to schools in Hemet, Pleasanton and Ventura Unified School Districts in California and benefit 6,382 students everyday by increasing their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables at lunch. This grant helps the United Fresh Foundation close in on their goal of donating salad bars to 350 California schools by May 2013.
“The Safeway Foundation is proud to make a difference in the many neighborhoods that Safeway serves,” said Christy Duncan-Anderson, Executive Director of the Safeway Foundation. “We are committed to promoting health and wellness for today’s consumers and for the next generation.”
The Safeway Foundation, with a focus on giving locally, supports causes that impact customers' lives and improve children’s health. All schools receiving salad bars from this grant are located within 5 miles of a Safeway/Vons store.
“This donation highlights the collaborative effort and commitment along the entire supply chain to improving child nutrition and combating childhood obesity by promoting increased fruit and vegetable consumption,” said Tom Stenzel, United Fresh president and CEO. “Salad bars are the easiest, most effective way for schools to meet the new federal school lunch standards and make it possible for students to ‘make half their plate fruits and vegetables’ as recommended by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for America.”
In Hemet, the schools receiving salad bars include: Ramona Elementary, Jacob Weins Elementary and Little Lake Elementary Schools. In Pleasanton, Valley View Elementary, Donlon Elementary, Fairlands Elementary and Hearst Elementary Schools will receive salad bars, and in Ventura salad bars will be provided to EP Foster Elementary and De Anza Middle School. In all schools, the salad bars will be used to provide students with greater access to fresh produce and to encourage students’ increased consumption of these healthy foods.
Let’s Move Salad Bars to California Schools is a special campaign of the United Fresh Foundation, under the umbrella of the national Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative, of which the United Fresh is a founding partner. Let’s Move Salad Bars to California Schools continues the United Fresh Foundation’s tradition of benefitting children and schools in the host state of the association’s annual convention, this year in San Diego, May 14-16.
United Fresh is collaborating with the California State Department of Education’s Team California for Healthy Kids, a program started by California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to increase access to fresh foods and salad bars.
To learn how you can support Let’s Move Salad Bars to California Schools, contact Andrew Marshall, United Fresh policy and grassroots manager at 202-303-3407 or amarshall@unitedfresh.org. Schools interested in requesting salad bars can visit www.saladbars2schools.org.
About Safeway
Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,644 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $43.6 billion in 2011. The company’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.
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 the United Fresh Foundation
The United Fresh Foundation is the United Fresh Produce Association’s 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization designed to help meet the public’s need for healthy, high quality, safe and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. Through its Center for Nutrition and Health, the Foundation is devoted to enhancing consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables through environmental change and public policy, and industry commitment to charitable endeavors. The Center is working to double the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by American children, helping to end childhood obesity in the next generation.
Source: United Fresh Foundation
