Tag Archive for: USANA Kids Eat

USANA Kids Eat Holiday Bag Project

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The USANA Kids Eat Holiday Bag Project kicked off Nov. 1. Now in its 11th year, the program helps to provide food for students during the extended Winter Break.

USANA Kids Eat 2021 Holiday Bag ProjectLast year, volunteers filled more than 3,600 bags and delivered them to nearly 40 schools. The 2020 Holiday Bag Project benefited thousands of students in our community. And it grows every year. Families, corporate teams, church groups, and more take part in the annual volunteer opportunity.

For families who participate in the project to pack bags, they tend to return year after year, according to USANA Kids Eat Director Michelle Benedict. These families are making incredible memories together, while also making a big impact.

How to Get Involved

Starting now, you can participate in the Holiday Bag Project. Visit USANA Kids Eat on Instagram to watch a quick overview of the program. Then, head over to usanakidseat.org to learn more and to sign up. You can also watch this clip from The Daily Dish on ABC4-Utah.

Once you’ve signed up (and selected your school and the number of bags you’d like to fill), you’ll receive a set of instructions, a grocery list, and details on when/where to deliver the filled bags. The items required to fill each bag total about $25. You’ll then deliver your bags to your selected school the week of Dec. 6-10.

Generally, throughout the school year, USANA Kids Eat volunteers fill packs for students to take home on weekends. For the Holiday Bag Project, the bags are bigger and contain enough food to last two weeks.

Make the ‘Season of Giving’ a Year-Round Effort

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We’re in the midst of what many consider to be the Season of Giving. The holidays are a time for giving back to our communities and giving thanks for the many blessings in our lives.

Yes, we’re embarking on a special time. And though I encourage each of us to focus on giving during this holiday season, I believe it’s important that we think about how we can give back, no matter the time of year.

It’s the overall Spirit of Giving, a notion that’s not tied to a calendar, that helps to make a difference in the lives of so many.

Volunteering Weekly

USANA Kids Eat volunteers. Photo credit: The USANA Foundation

This time last year, we were putting the finishing touches on opening the new USANA Kids Eat food-packing facility in Salt Lake City. In just a few months, we’ve watched the program become an integral part of our community.

USANA Kids Eat, an initiative of The USANA Foundation, couldn’t do what it does without a dedicated staff and teams of volunteers. Several individuals volunteer weekly throughout the year. They fill backpacks with food and deliver them to schools to ensure students aren’t going hungry on weekends.

In October, The USANA Foundation blog highlighted a half-dozen of the volunteers who are committed to giving back year-round. I’ve known many of the USANA Kids Eat volunteers personally for years as members of the USANA Family. I’d like to offer my heartfelt thanks for the countless hours of service.

Miles for Meals

As I mentioned in my October e-newsletter, a group of four USANA employees had organized Miles for Meals. The 12-hour bike ride on Oct. 29 aimed to provide 12,600 meals for hungry kids. Thank you to everyone who contributed, and here’s an update on the adventure. Spoiler: The campaign raised more than 20,000 meals!

Giving Back

As we celebrate the Season of Giving, I’d like to encourage you to look within your community and identify opportunities to give. It’s so important to have in our hearts a Spirit of Giving. I believe it enriches our lives as well as the lives of others.

Thank you for doing all you do to help make the world a better place. We all have the power to help others, to give back, and to do good in this world all year long.

May your holiday season be filled with happiness.

P.S. Here’s a recent news clip featuring USANA Kids Eat.

A version of this article went to email subscribers on Nov. 24, 2020. I invite you to subscribe here.

USANA Kids Eat Article in West Valley City Journal

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USANA Kids Eat - David Mulham 2The West Valley City Journal quotes Kevin Guest, CEO of USANA Health Sciences, in its article about the USANA Kids Eat program.

Feeding Hungry Kids ‘Outside Our Back Door’

The program operates under the umbrella of the USANA Foundation. It helps to ensure 56,000 kids along the Wasatch Front in Utah don’t go home hungry. You can read the full article here, and learn how you can help by visiting USANA Kids Eat online.

We opened a new facility in December 2019 to help provide even more meals to hungry children in Utah.

“The mission of our company is creating the healthiest families on earth. And health begins with the very basic needs of nutrition. Right outside our back door are thousands of children who have that need.” — Kevin Guest, USANA CEO

 

USANA Kids Eat: Serving Our Community

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USANA Kids Eat - No Child Should Ever Go Hungry

We recently officially opened USANA Kids Eat. It’s a food-packing facility where volunteers will fill backpacks with food for children who don’t have enough to eat (for background on the program, please see my previous blog post or visit usanakidseat.org).

You’ve heard me repeat the quote, attributed to Winston Churchill, often:

“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

USANA Kids Eat Ribbon Cutting

The USANA Kids Eat facility officially opened on Dec. 19, 2019.

Giving is so important. And that’s what USANA Kids Eat, in conjunction with the USANA Foundation, allows us to do. We’re providing millions of meals to children and families across the globe. But now, we’re able to better serve those in our local community.

Helping to Feed Hungry Children

I get choked up when I think about kids going home for the holiday break to empty cupboards. Just the other day, I joined several USANA employees in packing food for one particular school.

We were able to help make sure those children went home with backpacks filled with enough food to get them and their families through the long winter break. One in five Utah children goes home to insufficient or no food every day.

“With each backpack containing seven meals, we are filling and distributing 800 backpacks each week,” said Brian Paul, USANA Foundation president. “For long holiday breaks, we fill over 3,000 extended-break food kits so kids will have enough food. We welcome the public’s help to reach the goal of filling and distributing 1,000 backpacks per week, which will total 300,000 meals for hungry kids in our community in 2020.”

Making a difference is part of our vision and culture at USANA. And we’re looking forward to making an even bigger difference in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. Our goal with the program is to fill and deliver 1,000 backpacks each week to hungry children.

Thank you to our special guests and dignitaries who joined us for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Dec. 19. And thanks to each of you for your continued support of the USANA Foundation — and now USANA Kids Eat.

Media Mentions

The following are media mentions connected to the USANA Kids Eat program, as well as to the grand opening on Dec. 19, 2019:

To learn more about USANA Kids Eat, please visit usanakidseat.org. Follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

USANA Kids Eat Set to Open its Doors

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USANA Kids Eat Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony • Dec. 19, 2019

 

We at USANA are always looking for ways to give back to our community. The USANA Kids Eat initiative is one way in which we’re striving to do that.

Kids Eat - Kevin GuestAs I mention in the video above, we’re celebrating the opening of the beautiful new food-packing facility on Dec. 19, 2019. Several dignitaries — including Dr. Oz — are planning to join us.

The event starts at 11 a.m. and is open to the public. So if you’re in the area at 11 a.m. on Dec. 19, I’d love for you to stop by. You can tour the new facility and even pack a backpack or two.

Located next to USANA’s corporate offices at 2538 South 3850 West in Salt Lake City, the center promises to make a big impact within our community.

USANA Kids Eat: An Important Initiative

For those who haven’t heard, several months ago the USANA Foundation acquired two local charities to help in its mission to feed hungry children — worldwide and in our own backyard.

USANA Kids Eat is a USANA Foundation initiative that strives to eliminate childhood hunger in Utah by providing food to at-risk youth. Already, the community’s come together to pack food for kids to take home with them on weekends and holiday breaks.

And now, with the opening of the new facility next week, we’ll have a dedicated spot to better serve children.

Recently, USANA Kids Eat earned Mountain America Credit Union’s “Pass it Along” recognition, which recognizes local nonprofits making a significant impact in the community.

To learn more about the program, please take a look at this article on What’s Up, USANA? and be sure to follow the organization on Facebook and Instagram.