Tour de Fresh Initiative Invests in Community Health
DALLAS, TX - Pairing a focus on healthy eating with the fun and spooky vibes of Halloween, Tour de Fresh participated in another successful annual Fort Worth Spooky Bike Ride with Mayor Betsy Price. California Giant Foundation’s initiative presented Mayor Price and the city of Fort Worth with a check for $15,625, to provide salad bars for students at schools throughout the Fort Worth Independent School District.
“It’s inspiring to see our industry, local businesses, and the community rise up in support of future generations,” said Cindy Jewell, Vice President of Marketing at The California Giant Foundation. “It’s exciting to continue to bring these types of fundraising opportunities and events to local communities after engaging with parents and kids who are thrilled to have healthy options in their schools as a result of the these efforts–it takes a village!”
Fort Worth ISD, with support from Mayor Price’s FitWorth initiative, applied to receive five salad bars through the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign. The campaign’s mission is to provide every U.S. school food service program with a salad bar so that children will have daily access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
“We were delighted to be able to highlight the work that Tour de Fresh is undertaking to support our students, the FitWorth initiative, and our schools, by placing salad bars in Fort Worth ISD” said Mayor Price. “It is our goal to make Fort Worth the healthiest city in America, and we’ve made another step forward by partnering with Tour de Fresh to offer more students the opportunity to choose healthy options throughout their school day.”
The fundraising occurred over a three months span to provide these thousands of students access to fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Contributions from Tour de Fresh’s following sponsors made Forth Worth ISD’s goal a reality:
- California Giant Berry Farm
- Snappy Salads
- DMA Solutions
- Hort Americas
- Tessemae’s
- Del Monte
- IFCO
- Several Fort Worth community members
“FitWorth is proud to partner with Tour de Fresh, making progress in Fort Worth school nutrition, bringing salad bars to our schools, marketing what matters, and improving the daily fruit and vegetable intake of youth and families,” stated Leslie Casey, Former Chair of FitWorth Healthy City Initiative.
Snappy Salads, a local restaurant, gave more that 100 samples of fresh salad, and California Giant Berry Farms contributed 200 clamshells of fresh strawberries to Spooky Bike Ride attendees.
“Snappy Salads is committed to feeding people nutritious, fresh options that taste great and make the body feel good,” said Chris Dahlander, CEO of Snappy Salads. “That commitment extends to children and teens as well, which is why we support Tour de Fresh and helping put salad bars in our local Fort Worth schools.”
The Tour de Fresh team collected an additional $320 in cash donations from riders, local law enforcement, and fire departments. Additional funds raised from the Mayor’s Spooky Bike Ride are also being held for the next Forth Worth ISD school that applies for a salad bar.
Schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area who are interested in acquiring their own salad bar to give students access to healthy produce can access the application for Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools, here.
