<p>By: Allison Febrey, Assistant, Health & Wellness, FMI Foundation, Food Safety, Food Marketing Institute</p>
<p>National Family Meals Month™ began as a campaign to shine a light on the importance of family meals during September in 2015 and has grown exponentially over a period of four years to a verified societal movement with approximately 230 partners – food retailers, suppliers, collaborators, media and celebrities – participating.</p>
<p>In short, everybody is joining the Family Meals Movement – are you? One of the best ways to join the movement is to start with National Family Meals Month this September. </p>
<p>For Family Meals inspiration, the FMI Foundation has once again curated the best in class examples of how companies celebrated National Family Meals Month in its <a href="https://www.fmi.org/family-meals/toolkits/best-practice-guide">Best Practices and Excellence in National Family Meals Month™ Programming</a> guide.</p>
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<p>In this guide, you can learn about exciting ways bring family meals to life: </p>
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<li>Hy-Vee, Inc.’s Tailgate Crashers, who went to 16 football tailgates in September 2018 and rewarded 30 families, at each game, sharing meals with free mealtime kits. </li>
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<center><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/hyvee.tmb-large-350-.png?sfvrsn=798c556e_2" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="HyVee" title="HyVee" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 10px;" /><br />
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<li>The Kraft Heinz Company’s internal staff campaign featured contests, internal TV ads, and more. </li>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><center><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/kraft-heinz.tmb-large-350-.png?sfvrsn=a8c556e_2" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="Kraft Heinz" title="Kraft Heinz" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 10px;" /><br />
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<li>The Kroger Co.’s in-store promotion of Family Meals Month, which put family meals on surround sound through meal solution displays, personal shopping with Little Clinic dietitians, overhead audio messages and more. </li>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><center><img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/blog-images/kroger.tmb-large-350-.png?sfvrsn=248c556e_2" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="Kroger" title="Kroger" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 10px;" /><br />
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<p>This information is all in the <a href="https://www.fmi.org/family-meals/toolkits/best-practice-guide">Best Practices and Excellence in National Family Meals Month™ Programming</a> guide that can be browsed online or downloaded as a PDF.</p>
<p>There is still time to participate in National Family Meals Month! Watch <a href="file:///C:/Users/mel/Desktop/fmi.org/nfmm2018">this sizzle reel</a> summarizing all the great family meal solutions we saw this past September. There is no fee to participate!</p>
<p>Go to <a href="http://www.fmifamilymeals.com/">http://www.FMIFamilyMeals.com</a> for ideas on how you and your company can join the movement. Learn more about some of the award-winning programs on our <a href="https://www.fmi.org/family-meals/award">Gold Plate Awards page</a>.</p>
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