Is it just me, or did April fly by? I can’t believe yesterday was already the first day of May! Where does the time go? Yesterday it just hit me that Keenan will be turning three and starting preschool in three months! It is crazy, because it seems like he was just born, but now he is becoming this big, independent little boy (as I wipe away happy and sad tears all at the same time).

Anyhow, enough of the tears, it is time to talk about Healthy Vending for this week’s Thursday Tidbits!  In case you missed last week’s post, you can find it here. If you are new, Thursday Tidbits is a weekly post featuring anything health, fitness or wellness related. If there is a topic you would like to see, let me know!

I decided to talk about H.U.M.A.N. Healthy Vending today because they are the leader in providing 100% healthy vending machines for businesses across the nation and Canada. When I was working for a large health care organization several years before I had Keenan and a short while after, I was frustrated with what our company offered in terms of vending machine options. I managed the organization’s employee work-site wellness program and we were constantly fighting for healthier vending machine options, but we never won the battle. The leaders who were not the healthiest bunch insisted that the vending machines offer soda, candy, chips–basically anything that was considered junk food. So, when H.U.M.A.N. Healthy Vending  reached out to me, telling me about their company, mission, and vending machines, I was more than excited to help them spread the word about what they are doing.

Healthy Vending

The generous snack pack they sent!

They are actually the world’s first 100% healthy vending company and they provide more than 1,000 machines across the U.S, Canada and Puerto Rico. The company was started in 2008 by Sean Patrick Kelly and Andrew Mackensen, thus launching Healthy Vending with the mission of making healthy food more convenient than junk food. H.U.M.A.N. stands for “Helping Unite Mankind And Nutrition.” They give 10% of all profits to charities that fight obesity, as well as creating a kid-focused charity called HUMAN Everywhere, teaching kids about nutrition and fighting ALIENs (Attacking Life as Infectious Enemies of Nutrition).

Locally, Stacey and Brian Van Lente–a husband-and-wife team–partnered with H.U.M.A.N Healthy Vending to offer convenient, healthy snacks and beverages to schools and business within the Sacramento area. They started the business to work together and do something that they believe in–trying to make a difference in the health of our community. Currently, they have healthy vending machines in two schools, Folsom Middle School and Sutter Middle School. I love hearing stories like this, about people who are passionate about health and wellness, and making a difference in their community.

To give me a sample of what the vending machines offer, the Van Lentes sent me a snack pack of some wonderful goodies that included a reusable tote, water bottle, Pop Chips, Snikkidy’s Cheddar Cheese Baked Fries, Pirate’s Booty, Luna Bar, Clif Bar, Clif Mojo Bar, Boom Chicka Pop, Angie’s Sweet and Salty Kettle Corn. I was surprised at how many items (and good ones!) were in the bag. It would have been nice to offer this variety of healthy options at the health care organization that I worked at. I hope more companies and schools will jump on the bandwagon and start revamping their vending machines!

The wonderful sample of goodies that are offered in their vending machines.

The wonderful sample of goodies that are offered in their vending machines.

H.U.M.A.N. Healthy Vending, and Stacey and Brian Van Lente, were so generous that they offered to send one lucky a reader their own snack pack!

To enter, see below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Disclaimer: All products were given to me for free and all opinions are my own.