PBH FOUNDATION OKS FUND-RAISING EFFORT

AMY I. STICKEL

NEWARK, Del. -- The Produce for Better Health Foundation here approved a $1.2 million fund-raising effort for 1995, during its recent annual board meeting in Monterey, Calif.

As part of that effort, the foundation has developed a sponsorship opportunities program, which allows organizations to sponsor specific projects, according to Chuck Sample, director of membership and fund raising for PBH.

Those projects include a children's merchandising kit, using a celebrity and developing a food-service training video, among others.

Sample said he is also exploring grants as a way to raise money. Members are also being encouraged to participate in rebate programs, he said.

Sample said contributions have increased about 50% in the four year's since the national foundation was founded. "It's very much a success story," he said.

During the meeting, a motion was approved to explore the idea of an industrywide assessment program, Sample said.

The motion called for the foundation's president, Tom Hale, vice president of marketing for Sun Pacific Shippers, Exeter, Calif., to meet with representatives from the industry's two major trade groups -- Produce Marketing Association, also here, and United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Alexandria, Va. -- to discuss the possibility of forming an ad hoc committee on assessments.

Any assessment monies would be used to fund programs to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, similar to the mandatory checkoff program currently in place for the dairy industry, according to one board member who was present at the meeting.

"That's all that was discussed," Sample added. The foundation has no plans to implement an assessment in 1995, said Kathy Steele, director of communications and promotions for PBH.

Board members raised $36,000 during a phone-a-thon at the meeting.