PFK Campaign Enlists 16 Supermarket Chains

Produce for Kids (PFK) is getting ready for its largest-ever “Get Healthy, Give Hope” campaign, and helping it raise funds for Children’s Miracle Network-affiliated hospitals are 16 supermarket chains across the United States.

This year’s supermarket partners are Acme Markets; Kroger’s Southwest and King Soopers divisions; Price Chopper, Ahold’s Giant-Carlisle, Martin’s, Giant-Landover and Stop & Shop banners; Meijer; Publix; and Associated Wholesale Grocers’ Major Savings, Advantage, Independent, Country Mart, Homeland and United divisions.

From May through July, participating fresh fruit and vegetable suppliers will make a donation to local children’s hospitals based on sales of their produce items at participating supermarkets. The more items purchased, the more the hospitals receive.

Supermarkets taking part in the campaign will additionally feature PFK’s “Ideal Meals” program, which offers free cards with quick, easy and healthy meal ideas to produce shoppers. The program’s breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack solutions are devised by chefs and approved by nutritionists. When shoppers buy the sponsors’ items included on the Ideal Meals cards, a donation will go to support children’s hospitals in the area. One hundred percent of all funds raised will benefit the hospitals.

“We’ve known for years that families eat healthier when they cook together, and Produce for Kids brings together the opportunity for parents to provide healthier meals while ensuring medical care for kids in need,” said Kim Avola, marketing director for Orlando, Fla.-based PFK.

For the first time this year, PFK will offer state-of-the-art QR (quick response) codes on in-store point-of-sale display units and specially marked Ideal Meal cards. The Ideal Meal codes immediately link a shopper’s smartphone to cooking demonstrations by PFK chef Marshall O’Brien. The POS codes link shoppers to the Get Healthy, Give Hope Sweepstakes, which they can enter for a chance to win such prizes as full-motion, interactive gaming systems, cookware sets and supermarket gift cards.

Sponsored products for each supermarket chain can be found on display materials in each store’s produce department, as well as online at www.produceforkids.org.

Created in 2002 by Reidsville, Ga.-based Shuman Produce Inc., PFK promotes healthy lifestyles for children by educating families about the benefits of eating fresh fruits and vegetables while also aiding children’s causes. To date, the organization has raised more than $3.1 million for local Children’s Miracle Network hospitals and PBS KIDS.