Sunbelt Bakery Announces Partnership with Appalachian Trail Conservancy and Sponsors Final Leg of the Bear Mountain Trails Rehabilitation Project
Collegedale, Tenn. (PRWEB) November 14, 2016 -- Together with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, McKee Foods’Sunbelt Bakery® is blazing new trails in the effort to promote healthy activity and rediscovery of the great outdoors. As part of McKee Foods’ OH! – the Outdoor Happiness movement, Sunbelt Bakery announced a partnership with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and a $20,000 grant to promote healthy family activities, trail education and trail rehabilitation projects. The announcement was part of a “Taste of the Trail” event co-hosted by the partners at the ATC Visitors Center in Harpers Ferry, W.V. on Nov. 6.
“The Appalachian Trail is a place of life-changing rediscovery, and by supporting the conservancy’s outreach we seek to engage families in a rediscovery of shared time and experiences,” said McKee Foods' Creative Services Manager John Petticord. “There’s no better place to strengthen our families and our bodies than the great outdoors.”
Launched in 2014, the OH! movement is designed to encourage individuals and families to go outside, have fun and find what makes them happy. To that end, McKee Foods has pledged to contribute to 50 projects in 50 states over a five-year period, providing more than $1 million to the cause. By donating one cent from every specially marked Sunbelt Bakery box purchased, for a total of up to $200,000 per year, McKee Foods aims to give Americans even more ways to get outside and have fun as a community.
As part of the Outdoor Happiness grant, McKee Foods is providing funds to continue a decade-long, 2.5 mile trail rehabilitation project in Bear Mountain State Park, N.Y. The project is inarguably the most intense and most comprehensive footpath rehabilitation project in Appalachian Trail history, and it is now within one year of completion. Fewer than 1,000 feet of new trail remains to be constructed, along with stone steps and retaining walls. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy project is the 21st Outdoor Happiness project McKee Foods is supporting nationwide.
“We are grateful for this support and excited about the potential of this partnership with Sunbelt—a neighbor along the Trail in central Virginia—to entice tens of thousands of children and their parents to enjoy the health benefits of being on the A.T.,” said Ronald J. Tipton, Chief Executive Officer, Appalachian Trail Conservancy. “Once they have this experience, I believe they will keep coming back for life and help us protect and manage the unique A.T. experience for decades to come.”
More information about the OH! movement and upcoming projects across the U.S. is available at OutdoorHappinessMovement.com. Site visitors can pledge to go outside, have fun and find what makes them happy. For each pledge, McKee Foods will donate additional funds above the $1 million the company has already committed to Outdoor Happiness Projects.
About the Outdoor Happiness Movement
McKee Foods is committed to helping communities across the country enjoy an outdoor lifestyle by partnering with organizations that make public greenways, trail and parks available. We believe that these green spaces provide opportunities for outdoor activity that ultimately lead to a fun and active lifestyle. McKee Foods, owned and operated by the McKee family, has committed to donate more than $1 million over a five-year period in an initiative called the “Outdoor Happiness” (OH!) movement. The OH! movement represents a long-standing tradition in the McKee family in that since 2009, they have already given more than $2.8 million to support the creation and preservation of parks, greenways and other outdoor spaces. For more information, or to join McKee Foods in its mission to get the country outside, please visit OutdoorHappinessMovement.com.
About McKee Foods
McKee Foods, a family bakery with annual sales of about $1.4 billion, is a privately held company based in Collegedale, Tenn. The McKee Foods story began during the height of the Great Depression when founder O.D. McKee began selling 5-cent snack cakes from the back of his car. Soon after, he and his wife, Ruth, bought a small, failing bakery, using the family car as collateral. Today, the company employs more than 5,750 people in Collegedale, Tenn.; Gentry, Ark.; Stuarts Draft, Va.; and Kingman, Ariz. It creates and produces Little Debbie® Snack Cakes, Drakes’ Cakes, Sunbelt Bakery® snacks and cereals, Heartland® and Fieldstone® Bakery food products. Visit McKeeFoods.com for more information.
Vince Butler, Sunbelt Bakery - The Johnson Group, http://sunbeltbakery.com/www, +1 (423) 424-3068, [email protected]
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