Life Time Foundation partners with Emporia Public Schools

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EMPORIA, Kan. (WIBW) - The Life Time Foundation has partnered wit Emporia Public Schools with over $95,000 for its school food program.

Emporia Public Schools says the Life Time Foundation, a 501 non-profit and charitable arm of Life Time, the healthy lifestyle brand with over 150 athletic resorts and owner and producer of the Garmin DK gravel race, announced a partnership with it to benefit its school food program.

According to the District, the agreement will impact over 4,300 students enrolled in the district’s nine schools, including $80,000 of funding over the course of three years. It said the partnership kicks off with an immediate grant of $17,460 to help cover the costs of supporting students and families during the current COVID-19 crisis.

The District said the grant funding was generated from over 120 Garmin DK athletes who generously chose to donate their already-paid registration fees to the Life Time Foundation after the race was canceled in July. It said moving forward, the partnership will focus on the creation of sustainable change through the procurement of clean label foods and increase meals cooked from scratch while helping it keep highly-processed foods out of school meals.

“We are thrilled to be working with the Life Time Foundation and are blown away by the incredible support of race participants who were so willing to support our schools during this critical time,” said Denise Kater, Food Service Director at Emporia Public Schools. “We all know our health is our best defense in fighting illness and this grant will allow us to accelerate the amount of fresh and simply prepared foods for our students to support their health.”

The Life Time Foundation said its chief commitment with the district will be to serve as a supportive partner in removing the Harmful 7, which are highly processed and artificial ingredients identified as negatively impacting student’s health including the following:

Trans Fats & Hydrogenated Oils
High-Fructose Corn Syrup
Hormones & Antibiotics
Processed & Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial Colors & Flavors
Artificial Preservatives
Bleached Flour

The District said through the multi-year partnership, the Foundation will provide the support of a registered dietitian working closely with its foodservice professionals to identify all product labels containing the Harmful 7. It said together, the pair will create and implement a plan to create a menu free from highly-processed ingredients and increase fresh food offerings and scratch cooking practices.

The Foundation also said it will provide financial grants to address emerging needs like support from a school food operational expert, staff training and cooking equipment.

“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to deepen Life Time’s impact in Emporia and serve a new demographic of community members,” said Kimo Seymour, President of Events and Media at Life Time and Executive Director of the Life Time Foundation. “It’s important to begin embracing a Healthy Way of Life at an early age, and fueling students’ minds and bodies with healthy food is a wonderful way to do that.”

The Life Time Foundation said as of August of 2020, it has partnered with 25 school districts across the nation, representing 242 million means served to 1.5 million students per year.

For more information on the Life Time Foundation, visit its website.

For more information on Emporia Public Schools, visit its website.