PEORIA, IL - Tom Lange Family of Companies is doing its part this year, to ensure the next generation of produce lovers find their way to fruit and veggie options at an early age and with greater access. The company’s Becky Wilson and Bre Macomber joined 3rd and 4th grade students from Franklin Primary School at the school’s A to Z Salad Bar Celebration and Fruit and Veggie Pep Rally.

Organized, in part, with the United Fresh Start Foundation, the event displayed multiple salad bars stocked with fruits and veggies that begin with each letter of the alphabet while students also participated in nutrition education that highlighted the importance of making ‘Half Your Plate’ fresh fruits and veggies for better health. Liftoff, Sodexo’s healthy eating ambassador, also took part in the event with the message to eat healthy and engage in an active lifestyle so they develop good eating and exercise habits.

“We are so excited to be at Franklin Primary School, just a short drive from our offices in Springfield, and it was great to see student’s happily sampling fruits and veggies from the salad bar,” said Becky Wilson, Vice President of Operations for Tom Lange. “This is the first time I’ve come out to see kids enjoying fruits and veggies from the salad bars that our company donated. Since the event was incorporated with a pep rally, all of us were cheering for fruits and veggies. Based on their smiles, healthy choices were well received.”

As for sampling? Well, of course. Students were encouraged to sample all of the 26 different produce items, from asparagus to zucchini. The Tom Lange Company worked with the United Fresh Start Foundation over the past two years to donate six salad bars to the Peoria Public Schools. In addition to the salad bars for the Peoria schools, the company also sponsored two riders in the 2015 Tour de Fresh, supporting salad bars for schools in Missouri and New Jersey.

According to a press release, these donations have assisted the school district with meeting new school lunch nutrition standards that require serving an increased amount and variety of fruits and veggies everyday. The donations also enable the district to host nutrition education events such as the A to Z Salad Bar Celebration at different schools throughout the school year.

“The A to Z Salad Bar Celebration is designed to explain the many benefits of eating fruits and vegetables while introducing children to new varieties of produce,” said Mark Streamer, General Manager, Sodexo On Site Solutions, the foodservice provider for the Peoria Public Schools. “We customize the events for each school and the different grade levels of students, but the focus is always on encouraging students to choose from an array of healthy, fresh fruits, and veggies.”

Over four years ago, the Peoria Public Schools first requested salad bars through the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative and thanks to The Tom Lange Company and the United Fresh Start Foundation’s efforts to engage other produce industry donors, the Peoria schools can now boast 22 salad bars.

Mark Streamer, Foodservice Director for the Peoria Public Schools will be one of more than 50 school foodservice directors attending The Produce Forum for School Success at United Fresh 2016 in Chicago. This program is part of the United Fresh Start Foundation that brings K-12 school foodservice directors from the nation’s largest and most influential school districts to the United Fresh convention to network with produce industry leaders, share best practices with school foodservice colleagues, interact with USDA child nutrition officials, and participate in a host of education sessions that address a wide range of topics including produce procurement, storage, and creative produce recipes.

School foodservice directors can also attend The Fresh Festival for School Foodservice, a reception that showcases new and innovative produce items ideal for school foodservice offerings.

Tom Lange Family of Companies