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EatSMART: Dine & Donate in September

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As part of our Food Literacy Month celebrations in September, we are inviting diners from the Sacramento area to take part in our EatSMART fundraising campaign. The campaign adds a voluntary dollar to every restaurant ticket to help end childhood obesity by raising money to teach kids to eat smart.

More than 60 restaurants have signed up to participate in EatSMART. They will place a card on each table alerting patrons that a voluntary dollar can be added to the bill to fight childhood obesity. One hundred percent of the donation will be going towards funding our mission to teach food literacy. Similar campaigns have been organized in restaurants in cities like San Francisco and London, and the results have been very successful.

The idea for the campaign came from California Food Literacy Center board chair Peg Tomlinson Poswall, who saw a similar campaign running in London. She quickly saw the potential in bringing it to Sacramento to help increase food literacy education.

“This type of campaign has been wildly successful in cities like London and San Francisco, and we are excited to gather Sacramentans together to ensure our children eat smart,” said Peg Tomlinson-Poswall, chair, California Food Literacy Center.  “I can’t think of another time when this many Sacramento-area restaurants have banded together for a single cause.”

Some restaurants are taking the first annual EatSMART campaign to another level. Instead of asking patrons to donate, the Firehouse Restaurant and Ten22 will be donating $1 for every table in September. Ella Dining Room & Bar will be donating $1 per entrée purchased in September. Brooksfield Restaurant will be inviting customers to donate 50 cents for every table through September and its owner has also joined our Kids’ Recipe Contest committee, another Food Literacy Month activity.

California Food Literacy Center has been running our programs on a shoestring budget. On a budget of only $40,000, we’ve managed to reach 2,400 kids this year as well as launch the Food Literacy Academy to train community members to teach more kids in the community.  We’ve taught local K-5 students basic cooking skills, nutrition, fruit and vegetable appreciation, food budgets, and have introduced them to healthy snacks that taste good.

“We need to triple that amount by the end of the year to continue our existing programs, expand to more schools, and hire a full-time teacher and volunteer coordinator,” Amber said.              

Last year, the resolution ACR-161, authored by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson and sponsored by California Food Literacy Center, declared September as Food Literacy Month in California. Join us in celebrating the second anniversary of Food Literacy Month this September! There will be exciting events including the EatSMART campaign, Veggie of the Year contest, Kids’ Recipe Contest sponsored by SimplyRecipes.com, Food Literacy Fairs in Woodland and Sacramento, and an online fundraiser. We’re also participating in several events at Sacramento’s Farm to Fork Week. Join the fun!

Thank you to our Food Literacy Month sponsors: Poswall, White & Culter, Harbison Estate Vineyard Oakville, Elliott’s Natural Foods El Camino, Dignity Health, Broderick and Pat Soberanis. Thank you to our Kids’ Recipe Contest sponsor SimplyRecipes.com.

 

Article by Heather Teoh

 


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