The NHP Foundation and Sodexo: An Invaluable Partnership

NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sodexo partners directly with The NHP Foundation's resident services program, Operation Pathways. This occurs via Pathways' Brighten Up Afterschool Program at each of NHPF's Louisiana locations: Forest Park and Walnut Square, in New Orleans; and Copper Ridge and Magnolia Trace, in Baton Rouge.

At these venues, Sodexo works directly with NHPF to make healthy snacking accessible and fun for the students participating in the program. Through regular exposure to fresh fruits, vegetables, yogurt, and healthy grains, students develop healthy snacking habits that will translate into smart nutrition practices in their adult years. Sodexo donates and helps distribute fruits and vegetables known to the students, as well as some they may not have seen before, like the Satsuma, a seedless and easy-to-peel citrus fruit. This partnership makes the trying of new foods interesting to the students and rewarding for the adults imparting to the children healthy living skills.

NHPF Chief Executive Officer Richard Burns has said of Sodexo's collaboration with us, "They have shown their generosity through volunteering with their goods and with themselves—healthy, nutritious, fruits, vegetables, along with their time and energy. This is all greatly appreciated."

We are confident our continued collaboration will flourish, in a partnership bearing fruit beyond Louisiana. We look forward to seeing many new seeds of healthy living sown into the families calling our properties home, in an environment where activity and nutrition are commonplace. NHPF appreciates how Sodexo exemplifies teamwork; as we have seen, collaboration between NHPF and Sodexo has produced greater results than their individual efforts ever could have.

The NHPF-Sodexo partnership began in the fall of 2009, when Sodexo started providing healthy snacks for participants in New Orleans afterschool programs in community centers on NHPF properties.

Operation Pathways, a division of The NHP Foundation, implements a robust resident services program, where NHPF residents and those in the surrounding communities have access to a wide variety of educational, health, and enrichment programming. The program is offered at community centers co-located with the affordable multifamily rental housing that NHPF has preserved and created. Operation Pathways' successful approach to delivering high-quality programs is based on a philosophy of program delivery that creates measurable results through powerful learning experiences delivered in-house, based on the particular local needs of local communities.

About Sodexo:

Sodexo is the Global leader in services that improve the Quality of Life, an essential factor in individual and organizational performance.  Our 428,000 employees serve 75 million consumers every day in 80 countries.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Sodexo is the market leader in offshore catering, hospitality and grocery supplies, and the first offshore catering company to have achieved an ISO 9001:2008 certified management system.  Our 600 employees serve 5,500 consumers daily on 53 offshore vessels, platforms and rigs, improving offshore employees' morale, performance and engagement.

Contact: Thomas G. Vaccaro | [email protected] | 202.789.5300

SOURCE NHP Foundation