Publix Promo Raises Money For School Salad Bars

Produce for Kids and Publix Super Markets are collaborating to increase awareness about healthy eating and raise funds to donate salad bars to schools in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee.

This fall, all 1,039 Publix stores, in partnership with Produce for Kids, will sponsor a sales promotion in its produce departments to benefit Lets Move Salad Bars to Schools.

“Childhood obesity is a problem nationwide, but the Southeast has higher rates than the national average,” said Tom Stenzel, United Fresh Produce Association president. “Additionally, children’s fruit and vegetable consumption is lower in the Southeast.

Over the past year, the United Fresh Foundation, a founding partner of Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools, has worked to garner produce industry support for school salad bars. More than 800 salad bars have been donated to schools nationwide. Produce for Kids has embraced this goal as the focus of its Healthy Schools, Healthy Minds campaign with Publix.

“School salad bars are an effective way to increase children’s access to and consumption of a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables every day,” said Produce for Kids Marketing Director Kim Avola. “This strategy helps children meet the new MyPlate recommendations to ‘make half your plate fruits and vegetables at every meal.’”

From Sept. 29 through Oct. 26, all Publix produce departments will display point-of-sale materials with a list of sponsoring products: Pero Family Farms Stoplight Peppers, Mini Sweet Peppers, Mini Seedless Cucumbers & Organic Green Beans; Sunset Tomatoes on the Vine; Crunch Pak Sliced Apples; Del Monte Gold Extra Sweet Pineapple; Select One Tomatoes on the Vine; Del Monte Fruit Naturals Cups; Wonderful Pistachios; RealSweet Sweet Onions; Buddy Fruits The Healthy Fruit Snack; and Marie’s Dressings.

Earlier this month, United Fresh launched a media campaign throughout the region to raise awareness of the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative and to increase the number of school applications submitted from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee through the www.saladbars2schools.org website. At the conclusion of the Publix sales promotion, Produce for Kids will make a donation to United Fresh Foundation to support Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools. Produce for Kids, Publix and United Fresh will jointly select the schools in the five states to receive salad bars, which will be delivered by February 2012.