Produce for Kids Partners Launches Power Your Lunchbox Pledge

For the third year, Produce for Kids and produce partners are encouraging families nationwide to kick off the school year right by pledging to eat a healthier lunch, Aug. 8–Sept. 23, at PowerYourLunchbox.com. The Power Your Lunchbox Pledge website offers tips and recipes to help families and classrooms eat healthier lunches, after-school snacks and weekday dinners this school year. For every online pledge, lunchbox-friendly companies supporting Power Your Lunchbox Pledge will make a collective $1 donation to Feeding America programs that support families and children.

Produce for Kids’ 11 produce partners are featured in lunchbox-friendly recipes on PowerYourLunchbox.com, in digital communications to more than 25,000 subscribers, targeted social media efforts and in digital coupons provided to families taking the pledge.

Produce partners supporting Power Your Lunchbox Pledge 2016 include: Avocados from Mexico–Mexican Hass Avocados, Bee Sweet Citrus, Crispy Fruit Freeze-Dried Fruit Snacks from Crispy Green, Eat Smart Fresh Cut Vegetables, Earthbound Farm Baby Kale, GROW Bananas by Organics Unlimited, Marie’s Dressings, Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice, NatureFresh greenhouse tomatoes, Pero Family Farms  Mini Sweet Peppers and Snipped Green Beans, and Sun World grapes with additional support provided by Bentology.

During the campaign, Produce for Kids will be generating a healthy lunch buzz by giving away a Bentology bento box each day and hosting a #PowerYourLunchbox Twitter party allowing Twitter users to join in an hour-long conversation about back to school and healthy lunches. Additionally, families will be encouraged to use the #PowerYourLunchbox hashtag on social media throughout the campaign to share ideas with each other.

“Back to school is a great time for families to make a healthy resolution they can carry on through the duration of the school year,” says Trish James, vice president of Produce for Kids. “As a mom of two boys, I understand the challenges parents face when packing a healthy, nutritious lunch for their children and for themselves. The Power Your Lunchbox Pledge was designed to help families tackle this universal challenge.”

Here are a few ways consumers can get involved in the campaign:

This month’s back-to-school themed Produce for Kids “We Heart RDs” kit, sent to retail dietitians, included pledge sheets, “I Pledged” stickers, lunchbox recipes and more. There is a dedicated retail dietitian section on PowerYourLunchbox.com.                                        

“Retail dietitians are in a position where they can support families during the back-to-school timeframe while they are in the store making decisions,” saysJames. “It made sense to bring the Power Your Lunchbox message to our more than 300 retail dietitians so that they can share healthy back-to-school recipes with shoppers.”

In addition to outreach in the grocery store, classrooms can get involved in the pledge by visiting the PowerYourLunchbox.com teacher resource page that provides teachers in grades K-5 with fun, free nutrition-focused downloadable lesson plans, certificates for their students, take home materials for families, and the ability to take the pledge as a classroom.