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CoinopTODAY.com
October 27 - 29, 2005 
National Automatic Merchandising Association - NAMAPEPSICO FOODSERVICE DONATES $500,000 TO NAMA’S ENDOWING THE FUTURE CAMPAIGNCHICAGO, IL – September 21 – PepsiCo Foodservice has pledged $500,000 to the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) Endowing the Future Campaign, NAMA President and CEO Richard M. Geerdes announced today. With the gift the campaign has raised the total of pledges to $4,049,341, with a campaign goal of $5 million. In announcing the gift Geerdes said, "NAMA congratulates PepsiCo Foodservice for showing vision and leadership with this generous donation that helps us fund this campaign so critical if we are to continue to push our industry forward. We thank NAMA Board Member Sue Tsokris especially for her time, leadership and help in securing this generous donation, and all of the other companies too who have given so generously to the campaign. Thanks to their generosity we have a significant fund available to help us address some of the most important issues facing our industry today." One of the first initiatives funded by Endowing the Future is NAMA’s Balanced for Life campaign designed to correct misperceptions about the vending industry’s role in growing obesity rates and educate the public about the importance of nutrition education and increased physical activity. The campaign includes a partnership with America Scores, a non-profit after school program that mixes poetry writing and soccer; a website for students and parents, www.balancedforlife.net; a school trade press advertising campaign that positions the industry as a partner working to help solve the problem; and a host of materials included in the Operator Toolbox designed to help operators address the problem locally. Although the first year of the campaign focused primarily on schools and childhood obesity, the second phase of the program expands to help address the issue with adults in the workplace as well. Some of the other NAMA initiatives to be supported by the Endowing the Future Campaign include: * Fully fund an endowment for scholarships for advanced education for dependents of members at meaningful national levels, much higher than the organization’s current levels; * Continue the effort to raise student awareness at universities for intern programs and to create and maintain the talent pool of tomorrow for our industry; * Expand the Executive Development Program and provide more scholarships for members to attend; * Grant additional funding to enhance the existing State Council student scholarship programs or create them where they are needed; * Focus on the effort to expand State Council Educational programs to bring what our members need, where and when they need it. Concluded Geerdes, “We thank all of the companies who have supported the campaign so generously, and hope those who have not yet contributed will keep in mind that the question should not be whether to participate or not, but instead, at what level you can participate to help us protect the future for us all.” NAMA is the national trade association of the food and refreshment vending, coffee services and foodservice management industries including on-site, commissary, catering, & mobile. Its membership is comprised of service companies, equipment manufacturers and suppliers of products and services to operating service companies. The basic mission of the association, to collectively advance and promote the automatic merchandising and coffee service industries, still guides NAMA today as it did in 1936, the year of the organization’s founding. |
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