Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation Targets Nutrition Education, Fresh Food Access Amid Pandemic
October 15 2020 - 11:00AM
As schools and students across the country adapt to new ways of
learning, community efforts to create a more equitable food system
are gaining momentum. The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation,
which focuses on nutrition education and fresh food access, today
announced $1.6 million in donations to nonprofit partners
addressing local issues amplified by the pandemic.
"Five years ago, we established the Sprouts Healthy
Communities Foundation to increase our ability to support local
organizations that share our vision of bringing healthy, nutritious
food to all," said Lyndsey Waugh, executive director of the Sprouts
Healthy Communities Foundation. "These organizations have taken
tremendous steps to adapt their programs amidst COVID-19,
redirecting efforts to support the immediate need of the children
and communities they serve right now and exploring new and
innovative ways to deliver programming virtually. We are working
hand-in-hand with many of our partners to make these important
transitions possible."
School and community gardens are ramping up their
growing and food distribution efforts, providing local residents
with greater access to healthy food during the pandemic. "When our
student-centered teaching farms felt the impact of COVID-19, we
knew we had to pivot and we had to do it quickly," said Amanda
Storey, executive director of the Jones Valley Teaching Farm in
Birmingham, Ala. "With support from our school partners and from
funders like Sprouts, we turned our teaching farms into production
farms and began distributing free produce and seedlings to our
local community, resulting in over 15,000 pounds of fresh
vegetables being distributed since April."
This year, Sprouts' Foundation will award 120
grants to nonprofit organizations in the 23 states where the
company operates, including 113 Neighborhood Grants and seven
high-impact grants designed to help partners strengthen and expand
their programs, totaling $1.6 million.
Neighborhood Grant recipients
include:
- 18 Reasons (San
Francisco) - The Cooking Matters at Home program will
provide fresh groceries and six-week virtual cooking classes to 120
kids and parents through the fall/spring school year.
- American Heart Association
(Phoenix) - The Fresh Connections
program will provide 400 food-insecure children with locally grown,
fresh produce, distributed through assembled take-home bags this
fall.
- Captain Planet Foundation
(Atlanta) - Project Giving Garden
will grow, harvest and distribute produce to up to 1,000 families
weekly through the collaborative effort of Captain Planet
Foundation and Metro-Atlanta's more than 400 school and community
gardens.
- Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina
(Charlotte, N.C.) - The Healthy
School Mobile Pantries for Food-Insecure Families travels to
high-need elementary schools and will provide an estimated 3,200
individuals with to access fresh produce, meat and dairy during the
fall/spring school year.
For a full list of Neighborhood Grant recipients by
state, visit sprouts.com/neighborhoodgrants.
As school districts nationwide navigate distance
learning and hybrid return-to-school models, outdoor educators and
the physical spaces they support on campuses are proving to be an
important asset. "Outdoor educators understand how to translate
classroom concepts into engaging, hands-on experiential lessons,"
explained John Fisher, director of outdoor education at Santa Cruz,
Calif.-based Life Lab. "Now, instead of translating classroom to
garden, outdoor educators across the country are helping their
teacher counterparts bring school lessons to the home virtually,
ensuring students are engaged in learning, which is critical in
preventing students from falling behind. And, as schools reopen,
outdoor learning spaces will provide teachers with additional
spaces for small-group or split-class instruction."
High Impact Grant recipients
include:
- National School Garden Support Organization
Network (SGSO) - Life Lab
(Nationwide): COVID-19 Response Programming - SGSO
Network, the nation's largest peer-to-peer learning network for
school garden educators, is offering an expanded lineup of virtual
gatherings, webinars and resources to help school garden
organizations deliver distance teaching, provide social emotional
support to students, and care for garden sites during
COVID-19.
- Jones Valley Teaching Farm
(Birmingham, Ala.): Good School Food Virtual
Experience – The food-based learning organization offering
community farming at seven schools will distribute produce to local
food insecure families and offer virtual afterschool programs that
bring cooking and nutrition education to elementary school students
at home.
- Partners for Education, Agriculture and
Sustainability (Austin,
Texas): The grant will support the creation of a new
professional development program for teachers, a summer camp, and
expand capacity of the organization's new youth teaching
kitchen.
For a full list of existing and new High Impact
Grant recipients, visit sprouts.com/foundation.
"Since 2015, we've awarded $12 million in grants to
a broad network of nonprofit organizations that are now on the
frontlines of educating and feeding people impacted by the
pandemic," said Waugh. "Their efforts are inspiring, and the
effects of their work will be long-lasting, particularly as we all
work together to capture the learnings and innovation sparked by
COVID-19 and use that knowledge to strengthen local fresh food
access for the future."
Sprouts covers 100 percent of the Foundation’s
operational expenses, ensuring that every dollar raised is used to
support their nonprofit partner agencies. To learn more, visit
sprouts.com/foundation.
About Sprouts Farmers Market,
Inc.Sprouts is the place where goodness grows. True to its
farm-stand heritage, Sprouts offers a unique grocery experience
featuring an open layout with fresh produce at the heart of the
store. Sprouts inspires wellness naturally with a carefully curated
assortment of better-for-you products paired with purpose-driven
people. The healthy grocer continues to bring the latest in
wholesome, innovative products made with lifestyle-friendly
ingredients such as organic, plant-based and gluten-free.
Headquartered in Phoenix, and one of the fastest growing retailers
in the country, Sprouts employs more than 35,000 team members and
operates more than 350 stores in 23 states nationwide. To learn
more about Sprouts, and the good it brings communities, visit
about.sprouts.com.
A video accompanying this announcement is available
at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/98a15aca-72a7-455b-bd6b-4651dc538c6f
Contact: media@sprouts.com, 602-682-1553
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