United Fresh awards grants to increase children's access to fruit & veg

Last week, at the United Fresh Convention in Chicago, the United Fresh Start Foundation announced the recipients of its inaugural Community Grants Program. The Foundation established the Community Grants Program to advance the organization’s mission to increase children’s access to fresh fruit and vegetables.

The program extends the Foundation’s work beyond the school day, with the goal to provide children in communities across the country with access to fresh fruit and vegetables afterschool, on weekends, during summer breaks and in other creative venues.

More than 700 organizations applied for the community grants. Of those, the following ten organizations were selected to be recipients of the 2017 United Fresh Start Foundation Community Grants Program:

Boys & Girls of Greater Kansas City, Kansas City, MO

City Blossoms, Washington, DC

City Harvest, New York, NY

Community Housing Partners, Christiansburg, VA

Feeding the Gulf, Theodore, AL

Food From Farms, Anacortes, WA

Neighbors Building Neighbors, Muskogee, OK

Montville Public Schools Nutrition Program, Oakdale, CT

Second Harvest of San Joaquin & Stanislaus County, Manteca, CA

YMCA Camp Greenville, Cleveland, SC

“There is a lot of great work being done in communities across the country to address food insecurity, the childhood obesity epidemic, and to educate children about where their food comes from and the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables for better health,” said United Fresh President & CEO Tom Stenzel.

“Our Foundation is committed to helping our youngest generation develop lifelong healthy habits early-on by ensuring that access to fresh produce is not a barrier to consumption. We look forward to working with these organizations to maximize our impact and expand children’s access to fresh fruit and vegetables in communities across the country.”

In 2017, the Community Grants Program will provide $25,000 in grant funding, with a maximum grant of $2,500.

For more information:
Andrew Marshall or Mary Coppola
amarshall@unitedfresh.org
mcoppola@unitedfresh.org
Tel: +1 202 303 3407
Tel: +1 202 303 3425