In Peoria, Illinois, on May 17, Becky Wilson and Bre Macomber from Tom Lange Family of Companies joined 3rd and 4th grade students from Franklin Primary School at the school’s A to Z Salad Bar Celebration and Fruit and Veggie Pep Rally. The event, organized in part with the United Fresh Start Foundation, showcased multiple salad bars stocked with fruits and veggies that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Students were encouraged to sample all of the 26 different produce items, from asparagus to zucchini. Students also participated in nutrition education that highlighted the importance of making ‘Half Your Plate’ fresh fruits and veggies for better health, as well as interacted with Liftoff, Sodexo’s healthy eating ambassador.
“We are so excited to be at Franklin Primary School, just a short drive from our offices in Springfield, and it was great to see student’s happily sampling fruits and veggies from the salad bar,” said Becky Wilson, Vice President of Operations, Tom Lange Family of Companies. “This is the first time I’ve come out to see kids enjoying fruits and veggies from the salad bars that our company donated. Since the event was incorporated with a pep rally, all of us were cheering for fruits and veggies. Based on their smiles, healthy choices were well received.”
Over the past two years, The Tom Lange Company worked with the United Fresh Start Foundation to donate 6 salad bars to the Peoria Public Schools. These donations have assisted the school district with meeting new school lunch nutrition standards that require serving an increased amount and variety of fruits and veggies each day, as well as enabling the district to host nutrition education events such as the A to Z Salad Bar Celebration at different schools throughout the school year.
“The A to Z Salad Bar Celebration is designed to explain the many benefits of eating fruits and vegetables while introducing children to new varieties of produce,” said Mark Streamer,
General Manager, Sodexo On Site Solutions, the foodservice provider for the Peoria Public Schools. “We customize the events for each school and the different grade levels of students, but the focus is always on encouraging students to choose from an array of healthy, fresh fruits and veggies.”
The Peoria Public Schools first requested salad bars through the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative over four years ago. Since that time, thanks to The Tom Lange Company and the United Fresh Start Foundation’s efforts to engage other produce industry donors, the Peoria schools have now received 22 salad bars.
Mark Streamer, Foodservice Director for the Peoria Public Schools will be one of more than 50 school foodservice directors attending “The Produce Forum for School Success” at United Fresh 2016 in Chicago. “The Produce Forum for School Success” is a program of the United Fresh Start Foundation that brings K-12 school foodservice directors from the nation’s largest and most influential school districts to the United Fresh convention to meet produce industry leaders, share best practices with school foodservice colleagues, interact with USDA child nutrition officials, and participate in a host of education sessions that address a wide range of topics including produce procurement, storage and creative produce recipes. School foodservice directors also get to attend “The Fresh Festival for School Foodservice'', a reception that showcases new and innovative produce items ideal for school foodservice meals and snacks.
In addition to the salad bars for the Peoria schools, The Tom Lange Company also sponsored two riders in the 2015 Tour de Fresh, supporting salad bars for schools in Missouri and New Jersey.
For more information:
Bre Macomber
Tel: (217) 786-3300