Deardorff Family Farms in Oxnard, Calif., donated a salad bar to Sequoia Middle School in Newbury Park, Calif., on Oct. 15, 2014. The donation was part of the Tour de Fresh four-day fundraising cycling event. The company was a silver sponsor of the event.
Tom Deardorff II, president at Deardorff Family Farms, who attended the launch of the salad bar at the school said he was amazed by the response of students.
“Kids began to back up one behind the other in the two lines going to the salad bar,” Deardorff said. “It was awesome. They were smiling and joking and asking if they could use the big food trays instead of the small trays. They went for it hard and fast and kept coming.
“I could hear the staff saying, “We need more salad. We need more kiwi.” Kids were chomping on carrots and loving every bite. In the end, it was probably a 65/35 split with 65 percent of the kids choosing to go through the salad bar line.”
Tour de Fresh exceeds fundraising goal
Tour de Fresh was the first collaborative fresh produce industry event that raised funds for the United Fresh Start Foundation’s Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign. The goal of Tour de Fresh and its participants was to raise $120,000 to privately finance 40 new salad bars in school districts across the country. The foundation exceeded its fundraising goal and raised $124,303, ensuring more than 40 schools will receive salad bars.
The inaugural Tour de Fresh started in Monterey, Calif., on Oct. 13, and ended 275 miles later in Anaheim. The event aimed to bring awareness to the LMSBTS program originally founded by Food Family Farming Foundation, National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, United Fresh Produce Association Foundation and Whole Foods Market in support of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! Initiative.
This article was published at the corporate blog of Hort Americas, hortamericas.blogspot.nl
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