Edible Arrangements Volunteers During Las Vegas Convention to Help Feed Hungry Children
Edible Arrangements® franchisees and corporate staff members took a break from their 2016 biannual convention in Las Vegas last week to volunteer with the Serving Our Kids Foundation where they packaged food for delivery to local children in need. Volunteers included founder and CEO Tariq Farid and his family, along with corporate employees and franchisees from the global leader in freshly-crafted fruit arrangements.
“We have a saying that our people are ‘Caring, Loving, Fruit Experts’, and we are happy to reinforce that by supporting organizations like Serving Our Kids Foundation,” said Rob Price, Edible Arrangements® President. “Our corporate office in Connecticut supports the Connecticut Food Bank and other local organizations, and many of our franchise owners generously give back in their own local communities, but we really wanted to do something special here in Las Vegas in honor of our amazing franchisees who are gathered together.”
In addition to the nonperishable items regularly included in every bag, Edible Arrangements® added a fresh orange and apple made available through a donation from its Las Vegas-area fruit vendor, Get Fresh Sales.
Serving Our Kids Foundation utilizes the strength of community volunteers and donations to ensure youth are fed for the weekends. Every Friday during the school year, they provide weekend food bags to about 1,900 children in grades K-5 at 33 different schools in Clark County. But with many schools operating on a year-round schedule, Serving Our Kids Foundation also works year-round, feeding about 700 children per week in summer months.
On Thursday, Tariq Farid joined together with Rob Price to present Serving Our Kids Foundation Executive Director, Dale Darcas, with a check as part of the convention’s closing ceremonies at the Aria Resort & Casino. “With so many volunteers and donations of food, this organization can accomplish so much on a small budget. I was floored,” said Farid.
“We are blessed and honored to partner with the Edible Arrangements family. We do everything we can to feed hungry children, and the community has been loyal over the years to donate food, money, and volunteer time — but it’s always a wonderful surprise to get a call like this from Edible Arrangements saying they want to help!” said Darcas.
Some of the children who receive weekly food bags are homeless, and others come from families with extremely limited incomes; all usually eat breakfast and lunch at school, leaving a gap for where they will get meals during the weekend. Last year there were over 12,000 homeless youth enrolled in Clark County schools, more than 3% of its student population. Serving Our Kids Foundation solicits donations of food and money from the community, and individuals and community groups volunteer to host food drives, sort and pack the food into bags, and deliver the bags to the schools. For more information or to volunteer or donate, visit www.servingourkids.org.
ABOUT EDIBLE ARRANGEMENTS
With more than 1,300 franchise locations open or under development worldwide, Edible Arrangements International, LLC is the world’s largest franchisor of shops offering creatively designed fresh cut fruit arrangements. Select Edible Arrangements® locations also carry the company’s rapidly expanding Edible To Go® line which features all-natural, fresh fruit smoothies, Dipped Fruit™, Froyo Fruit Blends™, fresh fruit salads, sundaes, parfaits, and treats. Since its founding in 1999 in East Haven, Conn., the company has been recognized as an industry leader, ranking first in its category in Entrepreneur magazine’s annual “Franchise 500,” Entrepreneur’s Top 40 of “Fastest Growing Franchises” and “America’s Top Global Franchises” as well as being included for eight consecutive years among the “Inc. 5000″ list of the fastest growing privately-held companies. Edible Arrangements®’ fresh fruit arrangements, chocolate Dipped Fruit™, fresh fruit Smoothies, and more can be enjoyed at franchise locations worldwide. Gifts can be ordered online at edible.com and by telephone at 1-877-DO-FRUIT®.