Produce for Kids honors retailers for fundraising efforts
Produce for Kids honors retailers for fundraising efforts
ATLANTA -- Produce for Kids hosted a ceremony Sunday, Nov. 6 at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit to honor its 2005 participating retailers for their combined help in raising $225,000 for the program so far in 2005.
"The checks were make out to the Children's Miracle Network, the organization that Produce for Kids supports," said Heidi McIntyre, marketing director for the organization. "We also presented each of our sponsors with a plaque to thank them for their 2005 contributions."
The 2005 participating retailers are Harris Teeter, Publix, Kroger, Meijer, Giant, Tops and Schnucks. The 2005 participating sponsors are Fresh Express, Chiquita, Green Giant Fresh, Stemilt Growers Inc., Shuman Produce, Tropicana Pure Premium, Ripe 'N Ready, Driscoll, Del Monte Fresh Produce, T. Marzetti, Santa Sweets and Country Fresh.
Produce for Kids was founded four years ago by John Shuman, owner of Shuman Produce, which handles "Real Sweet" Vidalia onions in Reidsville, GA. Mr. Shuman's son, John Luke, was treated at the Backus Children's Hospital in Savannah, a CMN facility, when he was only a few months old.
"I was impressed by the care the staff gives to children and the ambiance in the facility, which was geared strongly toward kids," said Mr. Shuman. "I later researched CMN on the Internet and learned that it has many corporate and retail sponsors who raise money to support its work. I felt that it was a good charity for the produce industry to take part in, and I started contacting some associates."
Mr. Shuman continues to hold the position of executive director for the Produce for Kids program.
"Raising money for CMN is one of the organization's goals," said Ms. McIntyre. "The other is to educate parents in the health benefits related to feeding their children more fruits and vegetables. We are working on this objective in two ways today - through teacher involvement and by developing an educational web site. Our Power Pyramid is geared toward teachers and parents of kids from kindergarten through third grade. We will provide lesson plans for teachers and activity sheets for kids on an entire adventure theme that ties into the food pyramid but places extra emphases on fresh fruits and veggies."
The Produce for Kids' exhibition booth at the PMA show offered much more excitement than just the check presentation, however. It was a perfect place for "big" kids to stop and watch some expert LEGO-building. Nathan Sawaya is a master LEGO builder who worked for the popular manufacturer of children's building blocks and other toys, and now freelances at events and promotions. For the PMA event, he built a huge blue LEGO lunchbox and thermos, an apple, a banana, a peach, an orange, a watermelon slice and several other plastic "produce" items.
"We wanted to create a fun kids' room to tie in the entire youth element," said Ms. McIntyre. "Produce for Kids is considering using him for promotional events inside produce departments of grocery stores to help deliver our message. He builds very large projects over a three-day period so people can return frequently to watch his progress and to enjoy the end results of his labor."
Since the organization was founded four years ago, the in- store promotions that help to raise the money for CMN and the educational parts of the program have been held in the spring. They run for 30 days and involve promotional materials and in-store displays. A percentage of sales for that period of time goes back to Produce for Kids.
Ms. McIntyre said that the organization has decided, based on the great success of the program, to run it twice a year in the future. It will continue to be held in the spring, but as of 2006, it will also be offered in the fall and coordinated with a back-to-school promotion.
"It has grown into a major network," she said. "When it began, it had seven retailers. Today we have 22 retail partners, and we are in over 1,750 stores. To date we have raised $475,000."
The PMA convention was a successful venture for the Produce for Kids organization. Ms. McIntyre said that it had several meetings with even more potential participating retailers and sponsors.
"We are very pleased at the tremendous response we received," she said. "The web site [www.produceforkids.org] is also enjoying great success. It links to our new Power Pyramid Adventure, which kids can access from the home page. We are extremely grateful for the support of the produce industry for making it a highly successful program, and we invite everyone in the industry to contact us to discuss sponsor or retail partnership. We simply cannot raise too much money for these great causes, and it is a wonderful thing that the produce industry is doing to give back to communities."
"The checks were make out to the Children's Miracle Network, the organization that Produce for Kids supports," said Heidi McIntyre, marketing director for the organization. "We also presented each of our sponsors with a plaque to thank them for their 2005 contributions."
The 2005 participating retailers are Harris Teeter, Publix, Kroger, Meijer, Giant, Tops and Schnucks. The 2005 participating sponsors are Fresh Express, Chiquita, Green Giant Fresh, Stemilt Growers Inc., Shuman Produce, Tropicana Pure Premium, Ripe 'N Ready, Driscoll, Del Monte Fresh Produce, T. Marzetti, Santa Sweets and Country Fresh.
Produce for Kids was founded four years ago by John Shuman, owner of Shuman Produce, which handles "Real Sweet" Vidalia onions in Reidsville, GA. Mr. Shuman's son, John Luke, was treated at the Backus Children's Hospital in Savannah, a CMN facility, when he was only a few months old.
"I was impressed by the care the staff gives to children and the ambiance in the facility, which was geared strongly toward kids," said Mr. Shuman. "I later researched CMN on the Internet and learned that it has many corporate and retail sponsors who raise money to support its work. I felt that it was a good charity for the produce industry to take part in, and I started contacting some associates."
Mr. Shuman continues to hold the position of executive director for the Produce for Kids program.
"Raising money for CMN is one of the organization's goals," said Ms. McIntyre. "The other is to educate parents in the health benefits related to feeding their children more fruits and vegetables. We are working on this objective in two ways today - through teacher involvement and by developing an educational web site. Our Power Pyramid is geared toward teachers and parents of kids from kindergarten through third grade. We will provide lesson plans for teachers and activity sheets for kids on an entire adventure theme that ties into the food pyramid but places extra emphases on fresh fruits and veggies."
The Produce for Kids' exhibition booth at the PMA show offered much more excitement than just the check presentation, however. It was a perfect place for "big" kids to stop and watch some expert LEGO-building. Nathan Sawaya is a master LEGO builder who worked for the popular manufacturer of children's building blocks and other toys, and now freelances at events and promotions. For the PMA event, he built a huge blue LEGO lunchbox and thermos, an apple, a banana, a peach, an orange, a watermelon slice and several other plastic "produce" items.
"We wanted to create a fun kids' room to tie in the entire youth element," said Ms. McIntyre. "Produce for Kids is considering using him for promotional events inside produce departments of grocery stores to help deliver our message. He builds very large projects over a three-day period so people can return frequently to watch his progress and to enjoy the end results of his labor."
Since the organization was founded four years ago, the in- store promotions that help to raise the money for CMN and the educational parts of the program have been held in the spring. They run for 30 days and involve promotional materials and in-store displays. A percentage of sales for that period of time goes back to Produce for Kids.
Ms. McIntyre said that the organization has decided, based on the great success of the program, to run it twice a year in the future. It will continue to be held in the spring, but as of 2006, it will also be offered in the fall and coordinated with a back-to-school promotion.
"It has grown into a major network," she said. "When it began, it had seven retailers. Today we have 22 retail partners, and we are in over 1,750 stores. To date we have raised $475,000."
The PMA convention was a successful venture for the Produce for Kids organization. Ms. McIntyre said that it had several meetings with even more potential participating retailers and sponsors.
"We are very pleased at the tremendous response we received," she said. "The web site [www.produceforkids.org] is also enjoying great success. It links to our new Power Pyramid Adventure, which kids can access from the home page. We are extremely grateful for the support of the produce industry for making it a highly successful program, and we invite everyone in the industry to contact us to discuss sponsor or retail partnership. We simply cannot raise too much money for these great causes, and it is a wonderful thing that the produce industry is doing to give back to communities."
