Save Mart Grant Funds 6 Salad Bars

The Save Mart CARES charitable organization has awarded a grant to support Let’s Move Salad Bars to California Schools.

The donation will benefit 10,000 low-income students and help the United Fresh Foundation close in on its goal of donating salad bars to 350 California schools by May 2013.

The grant will provide salad bars to six schools in three Central Valley school districts: Kern High School District in Bakersfield, Alview-Dairyland Unified School District in Chowchilla and the Armona Union Elementary School District in Armona.

"Encouraging families to eat more fruits and vegetables provides immeasurable lifetime health benefits," said Steve Junqueiro, Save Mart president and CEO. "We believe the most powerful change starts with children. As they get excited about produce through school salad bars they will influence their family to try more fruits and vegetables at home."

“The grant from Save Mart CARES is a great boon to our efforts to increase children’s consumption of fruits and vegetables and combat childhood obesity,” said Tom Stenzel, United Fresh CEO. "Salad bars are the easiest, most effective way for schools to meet the new federal school lunch standards and make it possible for students to make half their plate fruits and vegetables as recommended by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for America.”

Let’s Move Salad Bars to California Schools is a special campaign of the United Fresh Foundation, under the umbrella of the national Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative, of which United Fresh is a founding partner.

Save Mart Supermarkets operates 226 stores throughout Northern California and Northern Nevada under the Save Mart, S-Mart Foods, Lucky, Maxx Value Foods and FoodMaxx banners.