DERRY, N.H., July 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MegaFood™, a pioneer in the health and wellness category, will partner with three local New England retailers and youth-oriented organizations of their choosing to build community gardens in areas with limited access to healthy foods. With this initiative, MegaFood aims to provide food-focused educational opportunities to help fill the nutritional gap at an early age, while improving lives and inspiring others to do the same.

Throughout the summer, MegaFood will offer its own employees as volunteers to work with local natural retailers in installing the gardens. These retailers, as the center for health and wellness in their communities, are resources for individuals of all backgrounds and income levels.

"We believe that it's extremely important to better connect our next generation to their food, and to each other," says MegaFood CEO Robert Craven. "That's why our program starts with our local natural retailers and pairs them with a like-minded community partner. MegaFood brings the garden and helping hands, retailers bring knowledge and education, and community partners bring the next generation of kids. It is our hope that through this shared value model all participants will gain from working together, and that ultimately our children are left with a better understanding of where their food comes from."

Participating natural retailers include:

New Morning Market (Woodbury, Conn.):
New Morning is placing its garden on location. The store is partnering with The Woodbury Food Bank & Naugatuck Youth Services for weekly harvesting of the fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. "This is a great opportunity to partner with one of our trusted supplement brands and to further both of our missions," says Emily Hunt, New Morning's Customer Care Coordinator. "The garden wall is a tangible example of New Morning Market building a healthy, sustainable, local food community. We will be able to use the garden as an educational tool and share the harvest with our community."

A Market (Manchester, N.H.), in partnership with the Manchester Boys & Girls Club:
A Market has partnered with the Manchester Boys & Girls Club for the location of its garden. They aim to help kids better connect to food, become more creative and adventurous eaters, and ultimately begin practicing better overall nutrition.

Cambridge Naturals (Cambridge, Mass.), in partnership with the Conley School:
Cambridge Naturals chose the Conley School, located in Greater Boston, for the placement of its garden. Led by a teacher passionate about soil, compost and sustainability, the students will come back from summer to a harvest festival to celebrate the fruits of their labor.

"We firmly believe that in order to inspire others we must begin with our MegaFood Family first. Through the implementation of MegaFood's "Pursue Passion Time" program, we've inspired nearly a quarter of employees to help with the garden installs this summer, making an everlasting impact on their hearts and minds and really fulfilling their whole self," says Ashley Larochelle, Vision Activation Manager at MegaFood. "Fulfilled employees are happy employees, and happy employees want to change the world with us!"

Other community partners include the Windham Center School in Windham, N.H.; the YMCA of Greater Londonderry, N.H.; the Moore Center in Manchester, N.H. and the YMCA in Manchester, N.H.

To learn more or get involved, follow #missionnutrition or email MegaFood Vision Activation Manager, Ashley Larochelle, at alarochelle@foodstate.com.

© FoodState, Inc. 2016

About MegaFood
Fresh from farm to tablet™, MegaFood is as real as it gets. Since 1973, MegaFood has been committed to making products that use real food from family-owned farms to make a real difference, and has produced some of the most effective and award-winning supplements available today. A pioneer in the natural products industry, MegaFood was one of the first companies to make their FoodState® vitamin and minerals from scratch starting with farm fresh whole foods. MegaFood continues to innovate by manufacturing more than 36 individual FoodState® Nutrients™ using their proprietary Slo-Food Process™, all in their own facility in New Hampshire. Their FoodState Nutrients are blended and combined to create over 65 handcrafted supplements that make up the MegaFood product line today, found in over 7,000 natural products retailers and vitamin specialty shops throughout North America.