Food City and Mann Farms recently teamed up to help raise the $2,800 needed to fund the donation of a Salad Bar for Rye Cove High School in Duffield, VA.  The initiative was made possible through Food City’s partnership with the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools program, a special campaign sponsored by the United Fresh Produce Association. 

“Food City is proud to partner with Mann Farms to make this latest salad bar donation possible.  Over the past several years, our partnership with United Fresh’s Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools program has resulted in the donation of salad bars to multiple schools throughout our region,”  says Steven C. Smith, Food City president and chief executive officer.  “This is an exciting program that benefits everyone involved - the schools, the produce industry, the parents and most importantly our children.”

Food City produce supervisor, Randy Edens first made the company aware of Rye Cove High School’s need for the salad bar.  Edens spearheaded the fundraising efforts, with the assistance of Food City store manager, Malinda Sallee (Weber City, VA) and produce manager, Tony Gilliam.  Together, they made the project a store-wide initiative.  David Mann of Mann Farms generously donated one dollar from the sale of each bucket of his locally grown strawberries, raising a total of $1,000 to kick off the fundraising campaign.  The school celebrated the opening of their new salad bar on February 6, 2015 by offering complimentary salads to their students.

“Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years.  Today, 17% of U.S. children are obese, increasing their risk for long-term health problems such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes,” says Smith.  “More than 50% of children’s total calories are consumed at school.  Research shows an increase in the frequency of fruits and vegetables consumed during the day when a school has a salad bar.” 

Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools is a special campaign of the United Fresh Foundation.  The initiative was created to raise awareness that salad bars are an effective strategy for increasing children’s fruit and vegetable consumption at school.  Schools receiving salad bars through the program must complete an evaluation a year after receiving the gift, detailing how their meal service has changed. 

The mission of the program is to significantly increase salad bars in school across the country to give every child the opportunity to choose from a variety of healthy fruits and vegetables every day.  To date, 3,656 salad bars have been donated to schools in the 50 states and D.C.

The United Fresh Foundation is a non-profit organization of the United Fresh Produce Association designed to help meet the public’s need for healthy, high quality, safe and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables.  Through their Center for Nutrition and Health, the Foundation is devoted to enhancing consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables through environmental change and public policy, and an industry commitment to charitable endeavors.  For more information on the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools program, visit their website at www.saladbars2schools.org.

Picutred Above (left to right): Steven C. Smith (Food City President/CEO),  Tony Gilliam (Weber City Food City Produce Manager), Malinda Sallee (Weber City Food City Store Manager), Jennifer Frazier (Scott County School Nutritionist), Reagan Mullins (Rye Cove High School Principal), Mike Tipton (Food City Director of Produce Operations), and Randy Edens (Food City Produce Supervisor)

Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores operates 105 retail food outlets throughout the tri-state regions of Southeast Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.