When John Shuman, a Vidalia, Ga. onion grower, founded Produce for Kids around the turn of the century, he couldn’t have envisioned the impact the children’s charity organization would make in its first decade.
But when the organization announced recently that it raised more than $422,000 for local Children’s Miracle Networks and children’s hospitals this past spring, it surpassed an impressive milestone.
That money raised brought the total amount the organization has raised since inception to more than $2.3 million.
“Produce for Kids started as just a campaign in the spring to raise money for children’s hospitals,” said Heidi McIntyre, executive director of the program. “We never expected it to become its own organization and raise funds year-round.
“We were hoping it would grow, but didn’t envision it would become what it has.”
Produce for Kids raises money through what the organization calls “cause marketing.” Retailers and producers sign on as sponsors of the program and designate sales proceeds from selected products to go directly to the program. For the spring campaign, six regional grocers and 39 growers from across the country participated.
Produce for Kids also has run a fall fund-raising campaign for the last three years, with the money from that going to PBS Kids programs.
The money raised this spring was down slightly from the nearly $488,000 raised in the spring of 2008, but McIntyre said she was thrilled the giving remained as strong as it did during difficult economic times.
“We were glad it held its own,” she said. “We were concerned going into the new year. (Charitable giving) is an area where people tend to cut first. We were happily surprised that didn’t happen. We were happy to see that the industry was still fully behind the program.”
The spring results, in fact, have given the organization great hopes for further growth in the future, McIntyre said.
“We’re always looking at ways to tap into sponsors and partners and expand and improve the program,” she said.
The 2009 Produce for Kids spring campaign had produce suppliers from across the country. The group included: Apio,Inc. (Eat Smart®), Chelan Fresh, Coast Tropical, Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Country Fresh MushroomsTM, Crunch Pak®, Custom Pak (UltraFresh®), Del Monte® Fresh, Desert Glory, Ltd. (NatureSweet®), DNE World Fruit Sales, DOLE® Fresh-Cut Salads, Domex Superfresh Growers®, Driscoll's®, Dulcinea®, Eurofresh Farms®, Family Tree FarmsTM, Fowler Packing Company, Fresh Express®, HMC Farms, Huron Produce, Ltd. (Suntastic®), Keystone Fruit, Inc.TM, Mann Packing (Mann’s Sunny Shores®), Mastronardi Produce (Sunset®), OppenheimerTM, Potandon ProduceTM (Green Giant®), Santa Sweets®, Shuman Produce, Inc. (RealSweet®), Stemilt GrowersTM, Sterman Masser, Inc.TM, Summeripe®, Sunkist®, SunWest Fruit Company, Marzetti®, Thomas Colace CompanyTM, Westmoreland (Topline®), Tropicana®, Turbana®, Ventura Foods, LLC (Marie’s®), Village Farms®.
To learn more about Produce for Kids, visit www.produceforkids.org.