FINDLAY, Ohio -- Fresh Encounter is helping to educate children on the importance of establishing and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Last year, Fresh Encounter joined forces with the Ohio Grocers Association and the Hancock County Health Department to launch "Eat Smart Play Hard," a program geared toward elementary school students.
"We provided fresh fruit, vegetables and other smart snacks for the children when the health department's doctor went into schools and taught children how to make healthy eating choices," said Susan Leeds, director of advertising for Fresh Encounter, based here. "The Hancock County extension agent also went into the schools with a team of people to teach kids about good nutrition using the '5 A Day' program and talk to them about how to get enough exercise."
At the end of the three-month collaborative effort, Fresh Encounter and its partners hosted a health fair for all participating students and their parents, said Leeds. The parents learned more about the health and wellness program their children had been involved in.
"This year, we'll be doing the program again, but we'll be expanding it to another town where we also have a Fresh Encounter store," said Leeds.
Along with its creative health and wellness programs, Fresh Encounter also plays an active role in the Ohio Grocers Association's own task force dedicated to preventing childhood obesity.
The group's program, "Heart Smart," will soon provide signs and literature that enable supermarket chains to measure the distance between various locations in its parking lots and each store as well as common paths within its stores.
"Because our shoppers are on the move while shopping our stores, we want to provide them with information about the distance they walk when doing laps around each store and how far they walk between each parking space and the store's entrance," said Leeds.
