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This Week is National School Lunch Week: Whole Foods Market(R) Thanks Customers for Donating Well Over $600,000 to Create Online Resource for Improving School Lunches Nationwide

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 12:10 CDT

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI), a leading natural and organic grocer, extends thanks to customers at its 273 U.S. locations for donating $660,065 -- to help transform school lunches across the country. Over the past eight weeks, customers surpassed the Company's goal of $400,000 to fund the development of "The Lunch Box Project," an online resource created by "Renegade Lunch Lady" Chef Ann Cooper's nonprofit, F3: Food Family Farming Foundation, which helps public schools provide more nutritious lunches for kids. This total combined with a $50,000 donation from the company means F3 will receive $710,065.

"Our customers have shown us that providing healthy lunches for our children is an issue of great importance to them," said Whole Foods Market Co-President and Chief Operating Officer Walter Robb. "We are so pleased to celebrate National School Lunch Week this year by recognizing and thanking our shoppers for their contribution. Inspired by our customers, we are deepening our own commitment by asking each Whole Foods Market location to partner with a school to work on making real progress in cafeterias in our communities' schools."

These store-school partnerships are already developing. For example, as a result of attending one of Whole Foods Market's community discussions, Dr. Melissa Kim, principal of Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, D.C., has struck up a multi-faceted relationship with Whole Foods Market in Tenley. Together the store and the school will approach the school's third-party food service provider with the aim of coordinating menu transitions and culinary training. Additionally, the Tenley store is partnering with the school's International Cooking Club, which meets once a week, to explore cuisine from around the world.

"We are so grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support by Whole Foods Market customers and employees for the creation of 'The Lunch Box Project,'" said Nicole de Beaufort, executive director for The F3 Foundation. "The momentum created by this campaign has generated not only the means to build a successful set of resources; it also has built awareness about the connection between what we feed our children and their health and well-being."

"The Lunch Box Project" toolkit, found online at thelunchbox.org, is now providing more than 80 recipes -- all nutritionally analyzed and easily scaled for portion size or number of servings. The next phase of the project will add food safety and culinary how-to videos, photos and manuals to help school lunch providers make serving nutritious, affordable lunches to students a reality.

In the spirit of National School Lunch Week, parent groups, schools and districts are encouraged to share anecdotes about how their cafeterias are improving lunches. From hosting local farmers markets and providing fresh produce to limiting fast food options in school kitchens, share your story at http://www.thelunchbox.org/school-lunch-map.aspx.

To increase national awareness of the "School Lunch Revolution," Whole Foods Market partnered with Chef Ann Cooper who traveled across the country to hold community discussions, serve on expert panels and deliver parent lectures. The three-week, six-city tour concluded last week also included school facility tours and a healthy cooking competition for children, an event that rallied customers around the cause.

This week the company also announced that Albert Einstein Academies Middle School is the winner of the School Lunch Revolution online video contest. Einstein Middle School is a charter school in the San Diego Unified School District. Einstein's entry was selected from the one-minute videos produced by parents passionate about improving lunches in their schools. The winner will receive a visit and coaching session from Chef Ann Cooper.

For more on how to get involved in the "School Lunch Revolution," visit the Whole Foods Market Web site at: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/schoollunchrevolution/index.php.

About National School Lunch Week

National School Lunch Week was established in 1963 by presidential proclamation. The week is designed to help raise awareness of, and support for, the role that the National School Lunch Program and nutrition education play in the lives of children. This year, National School Lunch Week runs from Oct. 10 to 14.

About Whole Foods Market®

Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (www.wholefoodsmarket.com), a leader in the natural and organic foods industry and America's first national certified organic grocer, was named "America's Healthiest Grocery Store" in 2008 by Health magazine. The Whole Foods Market motto, "Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet"(TM) captures the company's mission to find success in customer satisfaction and wellness, employee excellence and happiness, enhanced shareholder value, community support and environmental improvement. Thanks to its 51,100 Team Members, Whole Foods Market has been ranked as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in America by FORTUNE magazine for 13 consecutive years. In fiscal year 2008, the company had sales of $8 billion and currently has more than 280 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market, Fresh & Wild(TM), and Harry's Farmers Market® are trademarks owned by Whole Foods Market IP, LP. Wild Oats® and Capers Community Market(TM) are trademarks owned by Wild Marks, Inc.

Contacts: Nona.Evans@wholefoods.com 512-542-0381 Liz.Burkhart@wholefoods.com 512-542-0682

SOURCE Whole Foods Market

Source: PR Newswire

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