Find Your Favorite

The Produce Mom has been working with Indianapolis Public Schools’ Foodservice Division for the last 6 months.  Basically I have been serving as a community partner & produce industry liaison for the district.   As I toured IPS schools & learned more about their foodservice operation… the more impressed I became with their dedication to healthy choices & food safety.  It really is so impressive & like many school districts – IPS is highly-scrutinized and all too often, the press associated with my state’s largest school district is negative.  I know a lot about foodservice operations & I know that IPS is leading the way with their priorities and the fact that they are self-supported/funded.  In other words, the foodservice division is not pulling funds away from the academic, administrative, and countless other budgets & divisions that exist in a school system.  They plan their meals carefully & fully abide by the USDA nutritional standards for school meal programs.

They purchase a lot of their fruits & vegetables from Indy Fruit.  They prepare around 45,000 meals a day and each and every meal has a fruit or vegetable option.  It’s a ton of produce and IPS is one of the many valued customers of IFC.

As we all know- influences at school are important, but it all really begins & ends at home.  I have created a program that will inspire children to eat healthy & have structured it to have a strong take-home power & lasting impact.  I have an impressive pool of Indiana Heroes that are going to help me out with glamorizing and promoting fruits & vegetables.  Indy Fruit’s incredible vendors are going to help out by providing the IPS community with fruit & vegetable coupons.  The produce industry commissions & boards, organizations that represent the farmers, are helping out with funds & educational materials for both the classroom and at-home education.  Our goal is to show everyone that fruits & vegetables are delicious, nutritious, convenient & affordable… and glamorous, cool, popular & fun!

The campaign is called FIND YOUR FAVORITE™.  Our goal is to do just that – inspire & empower people to find their favorite fruit and vegetable.

Stay tuned as we talk more about school meal programs & Find Your Favorite…. and join me in welcoming the following Indiana Heroes to this campaign:

ATHLETICS

David Boudia, Team USA

Graham Rahal, IndyCar Series

Dwight Freeney & Coby Fleener, Indianapolis Colts

Paul George & George Hill, Indiana Pacers

Tamika Catchings & Katie Douglas, Indiana Fever

Robbie Bailargeon, Indiana Ice

Rowdie, Indianapolis Indians Mascot

Boomer, Indiana Pacers Mascot

Blue, Indianapolis Colts Mascot

ARTS

Anila Agha, Arts Council of Indianapolis

Emily Dyson, Dance Kaleidoscope

Emily Glover, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra

PUBLIC SAFETY

Gus Chavez, Indianapolis Fire Department

Christopher Wuensch, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department

What fruit or vegetable is YOUR favorite?

xoxo Produce Mom