"Wow Mom, I just want to buy all these vegetables and take them home and eat them all!" - Lucas, age 8
So, that was a total brag. But when Lucas said that to me while walking though a local farmer's market last Saturday, my pride SWELLED. Yay! I'm doing something right! I'm lucky, I know it. Not a lot of parents have kids that love arugula and broccolini.
I'm also very lucky that our public school district, San Marcos Unified, has made healthy eating in our schools a priority and has instituted the USDA's new guidelines that requires meals to be healthier and served in smaller portions, with more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and with less sodium and no trans fat. Additionally, in order to encourage kids learn to eat healthier all the time, all students MUST have one serving of vegetable or fruit on their tray.
But doing this is not cheap. Many California districts are strapped for cash and sometimes just being able to offer free or reduced price meals is better than nothing.
That's where Salad Bars 2 Schools comes in. One of the major programs of the Whole Kids Foundation (in partnership with the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative), is Whole Foods Market's ‘buy a salad, give a salad’ program that supports putting salad bars and other healthy eating programs in schools.
This Sunday, September 9th, you can help support this program with the "Eat Your Greens to Give Some Greens" donation drive at your local Whole Foods in the Southern Pacific region (Southern California, Hawaii, Arizona & Las Vegas).
It's easy to participate. Simply buy a salad or hot food item from the bar at Whole Foods this Sunday and a $1 per pound donation will be made based on total salad and hot food bar sales.
Hitting even closer to home, the donations will be tallied up and made for each metropolitan area - meaning the money raised locally will go to bring salad bars to schools in San Diego County. Schools such as the ones in the Encinitas Union and Oceanside districts or any other local schools/districts that apply for a grant online at www.SaladBars2Schools.com.
So this Sunday take the day off cooking, at hit up a local Whole Foods salad/hot food bar for a delicious lunch or dinner. Locally, Whole Food locations include, Hillcrest, La Jolla and the new(ish) location in Encinitas.
So, let's recap:
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post for Whole Foods Market.