In the News
From WKU.edu:
Bingocize®, the nationally recognized, evidence-based health promotion program developed by WKU Associate Professor, Dr. Jason Crandall, is exploding in popularity and gaining new customers every month. To support this growth, Dr. Crandall’s team has announced they are expanding their strategic partnership with Fresh Baby to include supporting their growing client management needs.
As the current provider of nutrition-focused prizes for “Bingocize® in Box”, Fresh Baby’s line of products promote healthier habits in older adults. Their impressive customer base and knowledge of the older adult marketplace make them a great fit to lead Bingocize® into the commercial market as their strategic partner.
“For almost 20 years, we’ve remained committed to improving the health of all Americans. We have also worked to earn the trust of our customers by building personal, accountable relationships. The Bingocize® health promotion program aligns perfectly with our mission. We’re looking forward to applying our proven sales and marketing techniques to drive new Bingocize® sales, foster amazing relationships, and improve health outcomes for older adults,” explains Cheryl Tallman, CEO of Fresh Baby.
“This expanded partnership will allow us to continue to grow the Bingocize® customer base and reinforce Western Kentucky University’s role as a leader in applied science in health and aging. It will also allow my team to focus on research to expand the programs’ content for older adults and to develop versions for new audiences, including children and adults,” emphasizes Dr. Jason Crandall, Co-Director of the WKU Center for Applied Science in Health & Aging (CASHA).
The continued growth of Bingocize® and this partnership is no surprise, considering that over 13 million adults 65 years of age and older will fall this year resulting in over $50 billion in health care costs. To address this ongoing problem of falls in older adults, Dr. Jason Crandall created Bingocize®, a socially engaging group-based program that combines exercise, health education, and the widely popular game of bingo. Bingocize® meets the highest- level criteria for evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion programs, as established by the Administration on Aging Evidence-Based Programs Review Committee. This credential qualifies Bingocize® for purchase utilizing Title IIID or other applicable discretionary funds. Bingocize® is also approved as an evidence-based Obesity Prevention Intervention by the SNAP-Ed Toolkit.
Petoskey, Michigan
December, 2020
I was so proud to accept this award on behalf of the Fresh Baby team! It is a great honor to be recognized by our community. This award is a tribute to the hard work, dedication, creativity and commitment of our entire team. We are all so proud.”
As published in the Petoskey News Review:
PETOSKEY — The Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce recognized an atypical year of contributions to the local community on Tuesday, during the annual Breakfast for Champions.
Breakfast for Champions is a community awards program hosted by the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce. An audience of nearly 300 people attended the event this year in an all new virtual format.
Petoskey Plastics recieved the prestigious Chairman’s Award, given in recognition and appreciation of long-standing accomplishments, significant investment, and extraordinary efforts that have shaped our community.
“Petoskey Plastics is an established leader in their industry and have focused on sustainability and company culture to be a standard of business excellence in our community and across the globe,” said award presenter, Ashley Whitney, chairperson of the Chamber Board of Directors.
Petoskey Plastics were specifically recognized for converting an assembly line to manufacture non-surgical protective gowns to support healthcare workers and patients during the COVID-19 crisis. Jason Keiswetter, president of Petoskey Plastics accepted the award on behalf of the company.
Sharon Scappacher, professional volunteer won the Athena Award, which celebrates the women in leadership roles throughout the community. Scappacher personally helped raise over $200,000 for YMCA through her themed dinners and sponsorship work.
“She is one of those empowered women that can empower other women. I have never met anyone that is more committed to equality, justice and the well-being of women. She realizes that she can make a difference and does so to make the world a better place,” said Stephanie Baldwin, who presented the award to Schappacher.
Todd Burch of McLaren Northern Michigan and Dr. Josh Meyerson of the Health Department of Northwest Michigan were presented the newly created Petoskey Strong award. The award was created to recognize those that went above and beyond to help support, sustain or provide safety to the community as a whole during the challenging times of a pandemic.
Other awards presented include:
- Service Excellence Award: Dan Kolinski, Kauffman’s Furniture
- Community Enthusiast Award: Jeffrey Neill OsborneKlein
- Ambassador of the Year Award: David Hamm, Jarvis Property Restoration
- Thriving Petoskey Award: Aster Brands
- Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Cheryl Tallman, Fresh Baby.
- Architectural and Renovation Awards: Beautification — Petoskey Farms Vineyard & Winery; Design — The Quiet Moose; Heritage — Gabriel Farms & Winery
We have exciting news to share! Fresh Baby is thrilled to announce our recent partnership with Bingocize®, a successful health promotion program that combines exercise, health education, and BINGO! The program was just approved to be included in the SNAP-Ed* Toolkit as an evidence-based intervention and was previously accepted as a falls prevention program by the National Council on Aging. Fresh Baby will be supplying the nutrition education products that will be used as prizes during the games and we couldn’t be more excited to support the older adult community through the Bingocize® program!
View Fresh Baby Prize Packs or for more information please check out the Bingocize® website, email bingocize@wku.edu, or view the entire collection of older adult nutrition education products at Fresh Baby.
October 2018
Petoskey News Review, October 28, 2018.
Junior Achievement launches entrepreneurship education program
Petoskey News Review, Saturday Paper, October 20, 2018.
Healthy influences: Petoskey company’s product line promotes proper nutrition
May 2018
2018 Michigan Small Business PTAC Best Small Business Honoree
Networks Northwest selects Fresh Baby as Northwest Michigan PTAC Government Contractor of the Year. Click here to view the official Press Release.
Petoskey News Review, May 14, 2018. Area companies honored at state small business celebration in Lansing, Michigan on May 3, 2018.
Northern Express features Fresh Baby as a Petoskey Powerhouse Changing the Way America Eat.
Giving Back
Once again, Fresh Baby donated MyPlate for the Win Grocery Bags to the Good Neighbors Food Pantry. We spent an afternoon packing the bags with food items so 160 local families can have a Thanksgiving meal. We are truly grateful to be in this generous community and loved being a part of this important initiative!
Harbor Springs, Michigan
Summer, 2020
Pictured from left to right: Jill Petro, Board member, Friendship Center of Harbor Springs and treasurer, Woman’s Council Cheryl Tallman, owner, Fresh Baby Jennifer Sutkay, coordinator, Friendship Center of Harbor Springs Marcia-Anne Dunbar, member, Woman’s Council
Bay View Woman’s Council is partnering with the Friendship Center of Harbor Springs to bring their frequent attendees “Pouches of Love” for September through May.
The idea began with Marcia-Anne Dunbar. She saw that Jill Petro was setting up a pen-pal program with the Friendship Center of Harbor Springs (FCHS) attendees and Bay View residents, starting with the Woman’s Council members. This resulted in matching about 12 FCHS residents with pen-pals. It is ongoing.
The FCHS is housed within Hillside in Harbor Springs and is 49 subsidized senior housing units within walking distance of downtown Harbor Springs. Hillside is owned by Presbyterian Villages of Michigan, and follows their guidelines, including their COVID-19 protocol, which closed the Center, very possibly through the winter/early spring of 2021. Attendees are missing the camaraderie and activities that the FCHS offered. The Board is finding new ways to deliver music, exercise, arts and crafts, special lunches, seasonal parties etc. to this group.
The “Pouches of Love” project gained traction as Marcia-Anne proposed giving good sized zippered pouches to the Hillside residents, and 11 additional people who are alone and not venturing out.
We now have 66 pouches, with the first distribution slated for the first week of September. The plan is to fill the resident’s pouch either every month or every other month with approximately 10 items.
The FCHS coordinator, Jenn, has supplied us with a list of “wants, needs” for these 66 recipients.
They range from stamps and note cards to night lights, socks with grips on the bottom, magazine subscriptions, arts and crafts projects, CDs, and small food items like pretzels, coffee, cocoa, tea, etc.
Cheryl Tallman (Roger) of Fresh Baby of Petoskey, (a growing nutrition education products business), who contacted our group and donated 66 activity books with gel pens. Our first item for the September pouches.
Marcia-Anne has raised some money to fill part of the pouches and she is finding the first 10 items right now. The second item for the pouch is “Our Daily Bread”, Marcia-Anne has 66.
How can you help? Marcia-Anne has set up a box on the desk in the BV Post office, for notes of encouragement, pen and paper provided. We are also collecting books and magazines, puzzles etc. We have a box for that as well. Marcia-Anne and Jill will be collecting the items getting ready for our first filling of the pouches for September. Future pouch ideas: Refrigerator magnets, notes, pictures from children, new books, more CDs (we have some music lovers), calendars, more stamps, Christmas cards to send, arts and crafts projects for each month, exercise videos.
If you would like to donate items or funds, or have ideas for the pouches, please contact: Marcia-Anne Dunbar: 603.369.2446, mabdunbar@aol.com here now, early September-mid October, 1453 Westbrook Drive, Marysville OH 43040 or Jill Petro: 231.838.3549, jill.petro7@gmail.com In Bay View until mid October, Petoskey October-May, 1331 Atkins Road, Petoskey MI 49770.
Cass City, Michigan
December, 2019
“Meating” the Need For Our Village was started in 2015 by a group of twelve year-old friends who realized that their local food pantries did not have enough funding to provide high-quality protein to their customers. After realizing this, they used their agriculture background to raise broiler chickens to donate to local food pantries.
To date, “Meating” the Need has had a $60,000 impact on the community through meat, milk, eggs, cheese, vegetables, butter, and nutrition education materials. Recently, Fresh Baby generously donated nutrition education materials to help “Meating” the Need educate children of food pantry clients on the importance of a balanced diet. The materials donated included bags, plates, cups, portion cards, and silverware (for younger children). The Boots and Bling 4-H club assembled the materials into the appropriate bags for distribution. All of these materials are in English, Spanish, and Bilingual so children can choose the bag of materials with the language they are most comfortable with.
“Meating” the Need is very grateful and excited about the opportunity to work with Fresh Baby and we can’t wait to see what the future holds!
A short video highlighting “Meating” the Need for Our Village can be found on NBC
Boyne City, Michigan
November, 2019
Helping others in the spirit of giving is what the holidays are all about. The Fresh Baby Team joined Good Neighbors Food Pantry to help prepare for Thanksgiving, filling donated Farm Fresh bags with a green bean casserole recipe and ingredients plus other Thanksgiving dinner menu items.
The volunteers that shop and run the pantry do some amazing work and we were proud to participate. The Good Neighbor Food Pantry serves 50-60 families a week. Learn more about The Good Neighbor Food Pantry here: https://tinyurl.com/ycefmtye
Boyne City Middle School, Boyne City, MichiganSupporting 3 sessions: October 2018, March 2019, October 2019
Every week for 8 weeks, Fresh Baby will provide one of our nutrition education products to the After-school Cooking Club at Boyne City Middle School. At the first meeting of each session, students receive our Kid’s Comic Book Aprons, which is always a hit!
The After-school Cooking Club is a collaboration between Chef Jon Kirk of Petoskey and the Rambler Wellness group, with the mission to introduce students to a homestyle kitchen, incorporating food safety, smart shopping, and nutrition instruction along the way. Every week a different course will be prepared culminating in a family-style dinner to be served to the student’s families the last night. This program is made available through the generous donation of time by Chef Jon Kirk, BCMS teachers Greta Brock and Cindy Romero, and the Rambler Wellness group under the guidance by Sue McClosky, RN. Ingredients are generously donated by Grain Train Natural Foods Market.
Boyne City High School, Boyne City, Michigan
June 2019
School is out and it’s time for summer programs. We’re proud to support the Charlevoix-Emmet ISD CA4K (Career Academy for Kids) Chopped! class. Kids get to explore cooking and participate in chef-led activities and instructions. (Plus they get a few of our fabulous products!)
Petoskey, Michigan
December 2019
The Sheriden Elementary 2nd Grade classroom learned about nutrition and MyPlate this winter. To complete their curriculum and support everything they learned about eating a healthy, balanced diet, each student received a Comic Backpack, Comic MyPlate and Comic Dairy Cup.
Norfolk, Virginia
December 2018
Fresh Baby proudly supported the Project Toy Drop with a donation of our Kid’s 4-Section MyPlate. While we couldn’t be there, it looks like the event was a success!
“I’m so grateful for your kindness and support in donating to Kids Wish Network. The Project Toy Drop Event in Norfolk Virginia was such a great success. Your special donations brought so many smiles to so many children.”
“Kids Wish Network relies on caring donors like you to carry on our special programs…We value Fresh Baby, and greatly appreciate your continued support and being a part of our heartfelt magic.”
— Valerie
Petoskey, Michigan
October 2018
Fresh Baby was recently recognized for supporting the local Friendship Centers of Emmet County on National Senior Citizens Day with a monetary donation.
Boyne City, Michigan
2018
We are proud to support the upcoming 2018, Good Neighbor Food Pantry cooking classes for their clients. The Good Neighbor Food Pantry serves 50-60 families a week and through a grant purchased MyPlate Grocery Bags. To accompany the bags we donated Fresh Baby Fridge Thermometers.
Thank you to all of the volunteers at the Good Neighbor Food Pantry for your dedication and hard work, you do it with such compassion and dignity.
🥦 Learn more about The Good Neighbor Food Pantry
🍒View our Fresh Baby Fridge Thermometers
🥕View our MyPlate Grocery Bags
We are proud to support the upcoming 2018 Manna Food Project Crock-Pot and Blender Cooking Classes. Manna has partnered with the Health Department of Northwest Michigan, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, and MSU Extension conduct eight Crock-Pot and eight Blender cooking classes for 400 pantry clients this year. Participants learn safe knife skills and how to customize a nutritious recipe to their personal tastes. Each client brings home a new Crock-Pot or blender, a three-piece kitchen knife set, vegetable peeler, cutting board, measuring cups and spoons, colander, Fresh Baby Fridge Thermometer, spatula, and fresh ingredients to prepare several easy-to-make recipes.
Manna Food Project (Manna), a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, helps feed the hungry in Antrim, Charlevoix, and Emmet Counties. Over 250 core volunteers, seven full-time staff members, and one part-time employee work together to fulfill this mission. Manna is a partner organization of the national Feeding America Food Bank Network. Manna operates a food bank (distribution center), a food rescue program, a weekly food pantry, and the “Food 4 Kids” backpack program.
🥦Learn more about The Manna Food Project
🍒View our Fresh Baby Fridge Thermometers
🥕View our MyPlate Grocery Bags
To embrace the holiday spirit of giving, our team put together Fresh Baby Get Active Sets to donate for Toys for Tots. It was a true joy for us to do this and we hope it brought joy to children in our area for the 2017 holiday season.
For several years Cheryl Tallman, founder of Fresh Baby, identifies a local project that leverages the company’s capabilities to improve the health of kids in our community. This year, Fresh Baby chose to support second grade students and teachers by donating fun products and teaching materials that align with the USDA MyPlate Guidelines for healthy eating. The $2,100 product donation will benefit 349-second grade students in the Petoskey and Boyne City School Districts.
product donation of 4-Section MyPlate’s, MyPlate and Let’s Move Puzzles, adult MyPlate’s, 4- to 6-oz. Kid’s MyPlate Dairy Cups and more. To support the network where dreams really do come true! The products were used for Project Toy Drop: Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, GA.
Product Highlight Videos
Play Video
Play Video
Play Video
Play Video
Play Video
Play Video
