Dole Healthyville

To announce the news, Jenn LaVardera (2nd from right), nutrition and health communications manager at Dole, Dole Nutrition Institute visited Healthyville. LaVardera was welcomed by Long Island Children's Museum president Suzanne LeBlanc who gave her a tour of the museum and the Healthyville exhibit. Joining the celebration were Stepping Stones director of development Kishshana Palmer, CFRE (left) and Dina Fleishman, Corporate and Foundation Gifts (right).

In the US, the Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk,Connecticut, has announced that Dole Food Company and the Dole Nutrition Institute are sponsoring its museum's Healthyville traveling exhibit – currently located at the Long Island Children's Museum in Garden City, New York.

'All of us at Dole are so happy to know we helped make Healthyville possible - it truly is a meaningful, valuable, and fun resource for children and families,' said Jenn LaVardera, nutrition and health communications manager at Dole and the Dole Nutrition Institute. 'We proudly support this effort to educate children on the benefits of a healthy diet and to encourage everyone to add more fruits and vegetables to their plates.'

In celebrating the new relationship with Dole, Stepping Stones director of development Kishshana Palmer said: 'The Stepping Stones team is thrilled with Dole's sponsorship commitment. Dole's core values of health and nutrition education for children and families are completely aligned with the museum's Healthy Children, Healthy Communities initiative. Together, we know we can gain even greater exposure for this important message, most recently embraced by Americans through social media with First Lady Michelle Obama's outstanding #GimmeFive campaign.

'We are all looking forward to hearing the same excitement from visitors today at the Long Island Children's Museum (LICM),' she added. 'After its tour at LICM, the Healthyville experience travels to the Boston Children's Museum in June, then to the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, CA and in January 2016 to the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose.'