Gold Coast’s Fantastic Fridays delivers vegetables to students
Gold Coast Packing, Santa Maria, Calif., has a new program called Fantastic Fridays that’s bringing fresh produce to area schools.
The company donates an average of 200-250 pounds of produce to schools in the Santa Maria Bonita and Guadalupe Union school districts according to a news release, and uses vegetable trivia to educate students on the crops.
“Our goal for this program is to get fresh vegetables directly into kid’s hands, and we wanted to do it before the weekend to ensure they could take product home and share with their family,” Crystal Chavez, marketing coordinator, said in the release. “We understand not every child has access to fresh produce at home, so we hope that through Fantastic Fridays, are able to give kids healthy options that will lead to a healthier lifestyle as they grow.”
The local YMCA and Boys & Girls Club has helped with the nine school visits Gold Coast has made, according to the release, with almost 1,500 pounds of vegetables going to almost 800 students by mid-March. The program began in November. Plans are for the two organizations to offer Fantastic Fridays when schools are closed this summer.
“It is great to see the kids so excited to learn about the products that are grown right here in Santa Maria,” Chavez said in the release. “They see the fields all across the valley, so to be able to educate students about how the most common produce items are grown and how it gets from the field to their school salad bar or their own dinner table is awesome!”
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