BENTONVILLE, Ark., 2016-Sep-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — With the new school year officially underway, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are highlighting 11 grants awarded to national nonprofits over the past year to fund nutrition education and meal programs for youth and families. Totaling more than $33 million, the grants also increase access to fruits and vegetables through state and federal nutrition assistance programs, underscoring our commitment to helping ensure that every family has access to affordable, nutritious and sustainably grown food.
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are funding the following programs:
- Chef Ann Foundation: $350,000 grant being distributed as101 grants to help schools increase fresh fruit and vegetable procurement, increase participation in the Department of Defense’s Fruit and Vegetable program at 50 schools and provide at least six hours of nutrition education and fruit and vegetable tastings to 35,000 children. www.chefannfoundation.org
- National League of Cities: $2 million grant to fund year-long meal programs that will provide 2.5 million meals to 32,000 school-aged children across the U.S. by leveraging the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program. www.nlc.org
- National Recreation & Park Association: $2.5 million grant to provide 18 million meals to 600,000 children and nutrition education to 150,000 children through its local park and recreation agencies. www.nrpa.org
- Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom: $7.5 million grant providing funding to support 10.8 million federally reimbursed school breakfast meals through an expansion of the consortium’s state-based universal breakfast strategy. www.breakfastintheclassroom.org
- Share Our Strength: $5.75 million grant to provide eight-week cooking courses and Cooking Matters at the Store shopping tours to 153,000 participants and to create and pilot a self-guided nutrition education application that aims to serve 25,000 people. www.nokidhungry.org
An additional $17.5 million in funding was also provided through grants to the following organizations, using the funds to provide meal programs for students and increase families’ access to healthy food, like fruits and vegetables, through state and federal nutrition assistance programs.
· Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: www.cbpp.org
· Children’s Hunger Alliance: www.childrenshungeralliance.org
· Food Research and Action Center: www.frac.org
· Single Stop USA: www.singlestopusa.org
· Y-USA: www.ymca.net
· Boys & Girls Clubs of America: www.bgca.org
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have committed to providing four billion meals between 2015 and 2020 to those who need them. We’re aiming to reach this goal through a combination of grants to charitable organizations and hunger relief programs, as well as through food donations from our Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers. To learn more about the Walmart and the Walmart Foundation’s commitments to fighting hunger and providing nutrition education, visit giving.walmart.com.
Contact: 1-800-WALMART (1-800-925-6278)
Source: Walmart