Dole Packaged Foods joins ShopRite, the Greater Newark Conservancy and Captain Planet Foundation to celebrate Project Learning Garden at Camden Street School in Newark, NJ

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May 20, 2015, 03:32 ET

NEWARK, N.J., May 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Superintendent of Newark Public Schools Cami Anderson and ShopRite of Newark owner Neil Greenstein were joined by executives from Dole Packaged Foods, the Captain Planet Foundation, the Greater Newark Conservancy and Camden Street School officials to inaugurate a Project Learning Garden at the school. These organizations collaborated to offer students the opportunity to interact with the environment through a learning garden, while expanding their palates and learning about food origins.

Project Learning Garden Inauguration at Camden Street School in Newark, New Jersey

Camden Street School was awarded the Learning Garden by submitting an application to the Captain Planet Foundation. Dole committed its resources to the effort in conjunction with a recently completed Earth Day program with ShopRite stores. Project Learning Garden is part of a larger effort to increase services in Newark and was awarded in conjunction with the new ShopRite that will open in Newark later this summer.

"Here at Dole, we understand the importance of teaching children the benefits of incorporating fruits and vegetables into their diet, whether they are enjoying fresh produce from their learning garden, or a healthy Dole snack," said Larry White, Vice President - Sales, Dole Packaged Foods. "By partnering with Captain Planet Foundation and ShopRite, we are helping more students learn about and develop healthy habits."

"Anything can be taught in the context of the garden, and hands-on learning supports student understanding of natural systems, food origins, and healthy eating," explained Leesa Carter, Executive Director of Captain Planet Foundation. "Captain Planet Foundation is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of environmental stewards, and ensuring they are armed with an understanding of the natural world in which they live. We are thrilled to be working with Shoprite, Dole and the Greater Newark Conservancy to provide Camden Street School with a CPF Learning Garden!"

"We are thrilled to partner with Dole to provide this Learning Garden to Camden Street School," said Neil Greenstein, owner, future ShopRite of Newark. "At ShopRite we are always looking for ways to improve the quality of the life for the families we serve, especially children, through education around nutrition and healthy living. Giving back to our neighborhoods is incredibly important to us, and we are proud to be opening a new store in Newark later this summer and to becoming the community's supermarket with a heart.

"It's natural that improving health outcomes should start with our youngest citizens, and the new garden at Camden Street School will help bring science to life for students and faculty alike," added Robin Dougherty, the Conservancy's Executive Director. "For over 20 years, we've found that school gardens can extend the green footprint of environmental education and become vital tools that help children learn about, experience and develop a lifelong love for fresh fruits and vegetables. We are pleased that ShopRite will be the new neighbor to our Judith L. Shipley Urban Environmental Center on Prince Street and we are delighted that ShopRite, Dole and Captain Planet Foundation have partnered with us to bring another school garden to Newark."

"When it comes to eating habits, we often defer to what's familiar, not necessarily what's healthy. Camden Street School wishes to inspire kids to make healthy eating commonplace and familiar. We have to change what's seen and start remaking what our kids experience. We have to change their reality based on how that reality looks, how that reality feels, and the opportunities that reality affords them. We pledge to give them the skills they need to achieve their dreams and give them a hope that they can see that new reality here. That reality looks different, it feels different, and that difference gives these kids hope for change. It's about being transformative. How do we transform our reality? That transformation should be seen and experienced in order for people to see the new reality. Camden Street School's goal is to be a school that transforms its community," said Sam Garrison, Principal of Camden Street School.

About Camden Street School

Commitment to Achievement, Making the Dream of Every child a New reality. All students at Camden Street School will be provided with the skills they need to achieve their dreams and to challenge themselves to become innovative, high achievers who will use all available resources to positively impact their world as global citizens. Camden Street School Teacher's Pledge: "I pledge to know and respect my students and to provide them with the skills they need to achieve their dreams!" The Camden Family Values that guide staff and students at Camden Street School are: Commit to success, Achieve your best, Make it happen, Dream big, Everyone deserves respect/ encourage others, and Never quit.

About Dole Packaged Foods

Dole Packaged Foods LLC, a subsidiary of Dole International Holdings, is a leader in sourcing, processing, distributing and marketing fruit products and healthy snacks throughout the world. Dole markets a full line of canned, jarred, cup, frozen and dried fruit products and is an innovator in new forms of packaging and processing fruit and vegetables. For more information please visit www.dole.com

About ShopRite

ShopRite is the registered trademark of Wakefern Food Corp., a retailer-owned cooperative based in Keasbey, NJ, and the largest supermarket cooperative in the United States. With more than 250 ShopRite supermarkets located throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland, ShopRite serves more than six million customers each week. A long-time supporter of key community efforts, ShopRite is dedicated to fighting hunger in the communities it serves. Through its ShopRite Partners In Caring program, ShopRite has donated $37 million to 1,700 worthy charities and food banks since the program began in 1999. As a title sponsor of the LPGA's ShopRite Classic, ShopRite has raised more than $27 million for local organizations, hospitals and community groups. Progressive Grocer named ShopRite its 2011 Retailer of the Year and Supermarket News awarded ShopRite its 2011 Retail Excellence Award. For more information, please visit www.ShopRite.com.

About Greater Newark Conservancy

Founded in 1987, Greater Newark Conservancy's mission is to promote environmental stewardship to improve the quality of life in New Jersey's urban communities through environmental education, community gardening, beautification of neighborhoods, job training opportunities and environmental justice. To learn more about other programs, services, and volunteer opportunities, or to make a donation to Greater Newark Conservancy, visit www.citybloom.org. You can also follow news from the Conservancy through social media - Facebook.com/GreaterNewarkConservancy and Twitter and Instagram at @Citybloom87

About Captain Planet Foundation (CPF)

Based on the critically-acclaimed animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, CPF was co-founded in 1991 by media mogul Ted Turner and producer Barbara Pyle. Since then, the Captain Planet Foundation has played a critical role in helping to ensure that the next generation of business leaders and policy makers are environmentally literate citizens who leverage technology and information to manage and protect the air, land, and water upon which all life depends.

CPF is a grant-making foundation that has funded over 2,000 hands-on environmental education projects with schools and non-profits that serve children in all 50 U.S. states and in 23 countries internationally. More than 1.2 million children have directly participated in and benefited from these educational projects. In addition to its Small Grants Program, the Captain Planet Foundation also operates the following programs: Project Learning Garden, the Leadership Center, SAGES, Planeteer Clubs, and a number of other science education initiatives that exploit the intersections between technology, innovation, the environment and personal action. For more information: www.captainplanetfdn.org.

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SOURCE Dole Packaged Foods LLC