Nemours Children’s Health

In 2014, Vitamix Corporation, the successful manufacturer of high-performance blending equipment, established the Vitamix Foundation to advance its values and commitment to empowering people to live healthy lives. The Vitamix Foundation exists to advance the knowledge, access, and enjoyment of plant-based whole foods with a special focus on pregnancy and early childhood. In the first 10 years of the Foundation’s history, they have committed over $4 million in grants to support initiatives that address maternal and child nutrition across the United States.

In Durham, North Carolina 56 percent of school-aged children qualify for free and reduced lunch during the school year. However, due to a gap in the system that provides those meals, as many as 15,000 children, adolescents and teens may be without access to regular meals during some or all of the summer. Enter echoReverb, the teen-led segment of the entrepreneurship support organization ECHO. ECHO, based in Durham, is a community-based organization aiming to create innovation and entrepreneurship. But why leave entrepreneurship just to adults? Through echoReverb teenagers have the opportunity to become entrepreneurs and use their inspiration to make their big ideas become a reality.