Arlington, VA—Whole Foods Market has teamed up with PBS KIDS, based here, to provide a line of eco-friendly PBS KIDS-branded school supplies for the back-to-school season.This collaboration will include offerings like notebooks, backpacks, and reusable lunch totes to be sold in Whole Foods Market stores.

In addition to the eco-friendliness of these products, the partnership will also help children’s education as well as children in need through several avenues. 100% of PBS Kids’ net proceeds from this line will go directly to supporting PBS KIDS educational programming, while Whole Foods Market will donate a percentage of sales, up to $25,000, to Whole Kids Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving children’s nutrition and wellness.

The product designers are also giving back. For each of their organic cotton backpacks, pencil cases, and lunch totes, designer Esperos will donate 10% of proceeds to help fund education for children through its Esperos Carry Hope initiative. Mudpuppy, which is supplying notebooks and folders for the partnership, is involved with supporting children’s education throughout the year, both with its multi-year partnership with PBS KIDS and other school programs. Lunchskins, which is debuting a new PBS KIDS line of reusable food keepers for the promotion, is working towards reducing the amount of plastic waste produced each year, with each reusable bag able to replace 500 plastic bags.

In a press release from PBS KIDS, Jeanne Tamayo, global lifestyle buyer at Whole Foods Market, said that this partnership “continues to raise the bar for quality children’s products and offers alternatives to what’s commonly found in the marketplace.” She added that through her company’s work with some of these school product suppliers “kids can get school supplies that truly do more,” both through the charitable proceeds these sales will generate as well as through their reusability and organic materials.

In addition to the product offerings, exclusive Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood content, including clips from the TV series, printable learning activities and family-friendly recipes, will be available for free at wholefoodsmarket.com as a part of the partnership.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, September 2015, online 8/7/2015.