DALLAS – At this year’s annual Fort Worth Spooky Bike Ride with Mayor Betsy Price, California Giant Foundation’s Tour de Fresh initiative presented the mayor and city of Fort Worth with a check for $15,625 – the equivalent of five salad bars for Fort Worth ISD schools.
Fort Worth ISD, with the support of Mayor Price’s FitWorth movement, applied to receive five salad bars through the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign this year. Tour de Fresh Texas sponsors California Giant Berry Farms, Snappy Salads, DMA Solutions, Hort Americas, Tessemae’s, Del Monte and IFCO, along with Fort Worth community members, fundraised over the last three months to help make Fort Worth ISD’s goals a reality – now thousands of students within the community will have access to fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis.
“We were delighted to be able to highlight the work that Tour de Fresh is undertaking to support our students, the FitWorth initiative, and our schools, by placing salad bars in Fort Worth ISD,” said Mayor Betsy Price of Fort Worth. “It is our goal to make Fort Worth the healthiest city in America, and we’ve made another step forward by partnering with Tour de Fresh to offer more students the opportunity to choose healthy options throughout their school day.”
“FitWorth is proud to partner with Tour de Fresh, making progress in Fort Worth school nutrition, bringing salad bars to our schools, marketing what matters, and improving the daily fruit and vegetable intake of youth and families,” echoed Leslie Casey, former chair of FitWorth Healthy City Initiative.
Locally-owned restaurant, Snappy Salads gave more than 100 samples of fresh salad, and California Giant Berry Farms gave 200 clamshells of fresh strawberries to Spooky Bike Ride attendees. The Tour de Fresh team was also able to collect an additional $320 in cash donations at the event from riders and local law enforcement fire departments. Additional funds raised from the mayor’s Spooky Bike Ride will be held for the next Fort Worth ISD school that applies for a salad bar.
“Snappy Salads is committed to feeding people nutritious, fresh options that taste great and make the body feel good,” said Chris Dahlander, CEO of Snappy Salads. “That commitment extends to children and teens as well, which is why we support Tour de Fresh and helping put salad bars in our local Fort Worth schools.”
“It’s inspiring to see our industry, local businesses, and the community rise up in support of future generations,” said Cindy Jewell, vice president of marketing at The California Giant Foundation. “It’s exciting to continue to bring these types of fundraising opportunities and events to local communities after engaging with parents and kids who are thrilled to have healthy options in their schools as a result of these efforts – it takes a village!”
The Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign’s mission is for every U.S. school food service program to include a salad bar so that all children have daily access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Schools within the DFW area are able to apply for a salad bar online at http://www.saladbars2schools.org/get-a-salad-bar/.
About Tour de Fresh
Tour de Fresh, presented by The California Giant Foundation, is the first-of-its-kind, collaborative event that unites the most significant brands and influencers in the fresh produce industry, as well as local community members, for a cycling event that raises funds to benefit the Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign. In its first three years (2014-2016), Tour de Fresh has raised over $400,000 in donations to support the placement of more than 130 salad bars in schools across the country. At a cost of $3,125 per salad bar per school, sponsors and participants alike strongly believe that providing healthy eating opportunities for school children should be a requirement.
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. Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools supports First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative to end childhood obesity in a generation. Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools founding partners are: The United Fresh Start Foundation, National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, the Chef Ann Foundation and Whole Kids Foundation. More information can be found online at www.saladbars2schools.org.
About FitWorth
FitWorth is a movement created in 2012 to inspire a sustainable culture shift toward increased daily physical activity and fruit/vegetable consumption for youth and their families. We do this by coordinating a grassroots approach to access, behavior awareness, and role model empowerment. Through our Fuel, Work, and Play programming, we act as a hub for coordinated and collaborative resources, generating momentum for a healthier future in Fort Worth. For more information, visit www.fitworth.org.
Source: Tour de Fresh
