Chop't Creative Salad Company has joined forces with non-profit Wellness in the Schools (WITS), which serves healthy, scratchmade lunches to 20,000 New York City public school children every day. Through the WITS "Cook for Kids" program, Chop't Founders Tony Shure and Colin McCabe have donated $25,000 to "adopt" PS (public school) 175 in Harlem and will bring in a full-time "WITS-in-Residence" chef to prepare fresh meals from scratch and train existing school staff.
Chop't's WITS partnership includes a multifaceted commitment that will help to permanently transform food at PS 175.
"What sets Chop't apart from all of our other partners is that they are involved in every level of our organization," says WITS' Executive Director Nancy Easton. "Their team dedicates a tremendous amount of time to WITS-helping form our overall strategy, contributing recipes, volunteering at events, and inspiring our students with visits and field trips."
Through the partnership, accomplishments include:
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Ensuring that at least 60 percent of the meals offered are made from unprocessed ingredients
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Providing a salad bar and at least one fresh fruit daily
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Eliminating sweetened milk
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Offering only whole grain pasta, bread and rice
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Ensuring access to water at lunch every day
"We and WITS share a vision of changing the future of eating in America, and in public schools specifically," Shure said. "That vision is aggressive, maybe even crazy, but there's a real problem with malnutrition in public schools and also a lack of knowledge about how to address that issue. We've learned that 91 percent of the kids at our school live at or below the poverty level and depend on school food for all of their meals. The food has to be better."
PS 175 is Chop't's second adopted school. The initial partnership with WITS and Chop't began with PS 65 in the South Bronx.
Founded in 2001 by college friends Shure and McCabe, Chop't Creative Salad Company is has 15 locations in New York City, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and suburban Westchester, N.Y.
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