AUSTIN, Texas—Whole Foods Market and Chef Ann Cooper, the “Renegade Lunch Lady," are raising money to help fund salad bars for public schools across the country. For the second year in a row, shoppers can donate to SaladBarProject.org at store checkouts or online. The salad bar kits cost $2,500 each, including a Cambro® portable five-well salad bar unit with necessary insert pans, cutting boards, knives and shipping costs. Salad bar training tools and videos for school staffers will be available through TheLunchBox.org.
“With childhood obesity levels at an all-time high, everyone has a stake in this fight and must take action to help change the way our children eat both at home and school," said Walter Robb, co-CEO for Whole Foods Market. “We see partnering with our shoppers to raise funds for salad bars in local schools as an immediate way for us to come together and make an impact on our children’s health in the communities we serve. Our goal is to provide a salad bar in a local school in each of the communities we serve with our 300 stores."
The salad bars will be donated to local schools through a simple online grant process. Whole Foods Market is partnering with Cooper’s nonprofit, F3: Food Family Farming Foundation, which will administer the process. Any public elementary, middle or high school within 50 miles of a Whole Foods Market is eligible to apply with the support of the school principal, nutrition service director and the superintendent of the district.
Last year, Whole Foods Market and shoppers donated more than $700,000 to fund “The Lunchbox Project," an online resource created by Chef Ann Cooper’s F3 Foundation, which helps public schools provide more nutritious lunches for kids. The funds were used to develop TheLunchBox.org Web site.