Whole Foods Market named Culinary Youth Advocate of the Year

Whole Foods Market has been named by the world’s largest culinary professional organization, The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), as “Culinary Youth Advocate of the Year” and has received an Award of Excellence for its effort to help improve school lunches for children nationwide with the “School Lunch Revolution” awareness campaign which launched last fall, Whole Foods Market reports. “We are honored to be recognized for this effort by such a prestigious organization. This is a testament to our customers’ commitment to providing healthier school lunches,” said Walter Robb, co-president and chief operating officer of Whole Foods Market. “Through their tremendous contributions we were able to raise not only awareness, but also more than 700,000 $ to help public schools across the country provide more nutritious lunches for children.”

During the 2009 back-to-school season, Whole Foods Market joined forces with Chef Ann Cooper to kick off the “School Lunch Revolution.” Customers donated at checkout counters to fund the development of “The Lunchbox Project,” an online resource created by Cooper’s nonprofit F3 (Food Family Farming Foundation). F3 offers free, easy-to-use tools that public schools can use to transform cafeterias and serve fresher, healthier meals. Additionally, Whole Foods Market contributed 50,000 $ to seed the program. To further raise awareness, Mr Robb and Ms Cooper traveled to Washington and asked government officials to enact more rigorous nutrition guidelines. The awareness tour, which was designed to rally shoppers around the cause and encourage parents and community members to get involved in the program, included stops at several Whole Foods Market stores around the country.

Whole Foods Market