To celebrate Vegetarian Awareness Month, we want to challenge you to Meatless Mondays in October: “Once a week, cut the meat.”
Did you know going meatless once a week can help reduce your carbon footprint and save precious resources like fossil fuels and fresh water? It’s true. Find out why.
Want to participate but not sure where to start? We’ll be publishing our favorite vegetarian recipes each Monday morning this month to help you go meatless — at least for the day!
Each year Taylor Farms recognizes the outstanding scholastic accomplishments of the sons and daughters of our employees. We hosted our 4th Annual Taylor Farms Scholarship Luncheon this past week in Salinas, California, where 10 recipients were awarded a $5,000 Taylor Farms scholarship. The recipients will continue to receive $5,000 for each year they remain in school! Read a little bit about the recipients below.
Claudia Zavala Lara
Claudia’s mother, Leticia, is a Taylor Farms employee. After graduating from Everett Alvarez, she has been accepted to UC Davis majoring in Biological Sciences. She plans to become a Physician and be a successful, independent woman that inspires others. With almost straight A’s and perfect attendance throughout high school, she has also had challenges that have not stopped her. After emigrating from Mexico to Salinas just five years ago, the language barrier and success in school was difficult. Now, at the top of her high school class, she looks forward to her future great achievements.
Miguel Zavala BOTH of Miguel’s parents work at Taylor Farms! Arcelia and Miguel. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz Cum Laude and with honors while double majoring in Politics and Latin American and Latino Studies. He plans on starting at the Berkeley Law School this fall. Working long hours outside of school in a variety of jobs through his time at UC Santa Cruz, he has confidence that any obstacles in his way will not prevent him from achieving other goals in the future. Currently working as the Witness Coordinator for the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office has helped him realize his ultimate goal of becoming a criminal prosecutor.
Chris Farias Chris’s mother, Yolanda, is a Taylor Farms employee! Chris currently attends CSU Fresno with a goal of obtaining his BS in Ag Business. As the oldest sibling to four younger brothers, he considers his acceptance into Fresno State as his greatest achievement. After becoming a father, he thought that he would no longer have the opportunity to attend a four year university. With the help and support of his parents, family and friends, he continues to keep his dreams alive. Overcoming difficulties in life has only made him more determined to ultimately achieve his goals.
Kristina Bravo Kristina’s father, Isaias, is a Taylor Farms employee. She will continue to study at CSU Sacramento this fall in pursuit of a BS in Speech Language Pathology. With hopes of moving on to grad school, she is currently involved in many organizations and clubs that help others in a variety ways. During her vacations, she returns home to work in the fields as a way of supporting herself financially and saving for her future grad school plans. With unconditional support from her family and a strong faith in God, she was able to overcome the passing of a loved one in 2012. From that experience, she has learned that life can be difficult but with determination, she will continue to reach her dreams.
Salvador Munoz Gutierrez Both of Salvador’s parents, Adam and Maria, work at Taylor Farms. Salvador will start pursuing his college education this fall at Chico State after graduating from Alisal High recently. With the encouragement of his parents he plans on continuing his education and earn a Masters and possible doctorate degree. With a trip to NYC in high school available, he worked at McDonalds, sold candy bars at school and fundraised in other, creative ways. Throughout that experience, he realized that he could do anything he set his mind to.
Kassandra Rizo Kassandra’s mother, Rosalia, is a Taylor Farms employee. Kassandra plans on attending UC San Diego this fall to begin starting to earn a BS in Public Health. Ultimately, she would like to attend medical school and become a Pediatrician. After losing her father in 2003, she focused on education, becoming independent and working hard for what she wants. She appreciates everything that her mother has done and sacrificed for her. While in school at North High, she has made it her priority to support others in many ways. Participating in volunteering at the library, and events like Champions for Change where she spoke about how to live a healthy lifestyle.
Ramon Ahedo BOTH of Ruben’s parents work at Taylor Farms! Ramon and Cristina. Ramon plans on starting at Cal Poly SLO in the fall after transferring from Hartnell College. During his time at Hartnell, he has become a part of the UC Cooperative Extension of Monterey County in the Entomology department. He has collected samples from pesticide trials, analyzed aphid feeding damage and conducted an experiment regarding thrip feeding damage on lettuce. His greatest achievement to date is being accepted into Cal Poly where he plans on pursuing a career in Agriculture.
Maribel Servin Maribel’s father, Eduardo, is a Taylor Farms employee. Maribel will continue to attend San Jose State University where she plans on receiving her Bachelor’s degree with honors. She will then go on to obtain a PHD in Psychology as well as a minor in Justice Studies. After completing her education, she would like to become a social worker for at risk youth in Monterey County. She currently works at Peacock Acres as a Child Care Counselor and is responsible for ensuring that children’s physical, medical and emotional needs are met. After moving to the United States at age 8, she considers graduating from community college her greatest achievement to date.
Guisela Castro Guisela’s father, Francisco, is a Taylor Farms employee. After recently graduating from Gonzales High, she will attend UC Berkeley this fall. She will be the first person in her family to graduate from college. While earning straight A’s, she made a decision to become an active participant in her education and programs that help others. Her work with the Monterey Bay Rape Crisis Center has had a profound impact on her and her desire to work with others, become a leader and also empower young females through education.
Lizette Cardona Both of Lizette’s parents, Bertha and Genaro, work for Taylor Farms! Lizette plans on attending CSU Stanislaus in the fall since graduating from Alisal High. After helping to take care of her father post-surgery, she decided to become a nurse. English being her second language, she has forced herself into clubs and circumstances that push her out of her comfort zone and speak in front of others. It has been the Salinas Youth Leadership Club and Women in Science Club where she has continued to gain knowledge and self-esteem.
Please help us in congratulation our outstanding 2015 scholarship recipients! The future is bright!
Watch the video from our 2014 Taylor Farms Scholarship Luncheon:
2014 is officially in the books! Earlier this week we took time to reflect on our teams’ undertakings these past 12 months. We’ve highlighted our Top 7 accomplishments of 2014 here:
1. Sustainability – In early 2014 we removed the shrink band from our clamshells. Our new sonic weld sealing technology is now used on all our salad trays; totaling a CO2 reduction of 1,705 tons. In July we completed a 2,300 solar panel installation, followed by a wind turbine installation in November.
Solar Panels
Wind Turbine
2. Innovation – Our Directors of Automated Harvest introduced the first automated celery harvester to fields this past winter. Our salad plant introduced 7 robotic packaging machines.
Automated Celery Harvester
Robo Arms
3. New products – To kick off 2014 we launched an extension to our wildly popular Chopped Salad Kit Line – The Sweet Kale Chopped Salad. Weeks following, our single serve CHOPPED SALAD bowls were introduced and can currently be purchased at Raley’s & Save Mart Supermarkets. In early spring the Taylor Farms Organic Power Greens line was introduced to the market place and began flying off store shelves! Our large Cooking Greens line followed in late spring.
4. Food Safety – We did it again! Taylor Farms was awarded the Primary Producer of the Year By the SQF Institute. This is an incredible honor (two years in a row) and we are proud to be recognized by such a topnotch organization.
{Jason Kawata, our Director of Quality Assurance}
5. Expansion – In April we proudly doubled our cut vegetable facility’s capacity; bringing the plant to 135,000 square feet. We broke ground on a new corporate office and look forward to our move in spring 2015 to downtown Salinas.
{Taylor Farms Retail Team visiting the construction site of the new office building}
6. Community Involvement – As the founding sponsor of the Salinas Valley Half Marathon, our team of Taylor Farms volunteers provided a wide variety of healthy and fresh snacks to the runners after their 13.1 mile race. To help ensure a healthy and bright future, we stuffed nearly 500 backpacks with school supplies for the entire 1st grade classes at 4 local elementary schools to kick off the school year. Three New Golden Whistle Award Winners were named. We continued our support for ALS research – To date, Taylor Farms has contributed $1.2 million towards ALS TDI’s research program.
{Volunteers & Runners at the Salinas Valley Half Marathon}
{Stuffing Backpacks with School Supplies}
{Taylor Farms Retail challenging other production plants to Strike Out ALS with the Ice Bucket Challenge}
7. The San Francisco Giants won the World Series!!! (Being a Northern California based company, we had to plug our team!)
In all seriousness, none of these accomplishments would be possible without the dedication of our outstanding team! We welcomed eight new additions to the Taylor Farms Retail Family and look forward to another great year!
To all our customers, we greatly thank you for the opportunity to provide fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables to your family’s tables. We appreciate the support and resolve to continually provide fresh, safe, innovative and healthy products to your table in 2015!
What is ALS? Despite being in existence for 75 years, most Americans know little to nothing about the disease. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a rapidly progressive neurological disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to complete paralysis. In the past 7 decades of federal research, the medical community has yet to find an effective treatment for curing or significantly slowing down its progression.
Since 2008, Taylor Farms has supported the resilient efforts of the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI). ALS TDI is the world’s largest nonprofit biotech dedicated to finding an effective treatment for ALS. Located in Cambridge, MA, the institute is staffed with 40 scientists who are rigorously testing an array of treatments and clinical trials. 87 cents of every dollar donated to ALS TDI is given to the research program. Our involvement with this organization is spurred by our founder and CEO’s close friendship with a family who has been closely affected by ALS.
ALS TDI Lab
Bruce Taylor, our founder and CEO, and Ted Reich have been close friends since meeting as freshmen at Salinas High School. Ted’s son, Corey was diagnosed with ALS in 2007 at the age of 21, while attending college at Middlebury University. To bring awareness to the fact that ALS affects young people, not just the elderly, Ted and Corey founded Young Faces of ALS (YFALS) as a branch of ALS TDI. Corey has had the profound impact on raising ALS awareness by serving as a leader and spokesperson for the younger generation of people with ALS.
Each spring, Team Taylor and The Reich Family team up to host the Young Faces of ALS’s Corntoss Challenge, a national fundraising event that directly benefits ALS TDI’s research program. Taylor Farms has served as a “Platinum Sponsor” of the San Francisco event the past four years, donating $25,000 each year. Taylor Farms’ sponsorship is paired with the efforts of its employees, who volunteer their time and talent to coordinate event logistics and oversee product donation. The Reich Family also hosts an annual gala at the Claremont Country Club in Piedmont, CA, called Corey’s Crusaders – an event that Taylor Farms proudly supports. With the help of Taylor Farms and other gracious donors, the Reich family has raised more than $4.2 million dollars for ALS TDI’s research program.
San Francisco Young Faces of ALS’s Corntoss Challenge
From Left: Mike Wong, Corey Reich, and Sarah Coglianese
The ALS TDI research program is near and dear to all of us at Taylor Farms. One of our own, Amy Taylor, daughter-in-law to Bruce Taylor, worked for ALS TDI in Cambridge, MA as an event coordinator from 2010 to 2012. She was responsible for 50-60 third party fundraising events, while supporting the company’s signature events such as the White Coat Affair, Tri-State-Trek, Cure is Coming 5k. Amy also led an organized ALS TDI’s first nation event, The Young Faces of ALS National Corntoss Challenge Day, all in support of the Taylor Family’s dear family friend, Corey Reich.
From Left: Ted Taylor, Scott Spencer, Drew Taylor, Amy Taylor, and Rick Bruzzone
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge took the nation by storm in 23014, an activity involving dumping a bucket of ice water on someone’s head to promote ALS awareness. From New Jersey to California, Taylor Farms employees took part in the nationwide challenge, using recycled water from our plants fumes.
Taylor Farms Salinas Retail Team challenging other Taylor Farms production plants to the Strike Out ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
TO DATE, TAYLOR FARMS HAS CONTRIBUTED AN ASTONISHING $1.3 MILLION TOWARDS ALS TDI’S RESEARCH PROGRAM.
Happy Thanksgiving! It is a time to gather with the ones you love, be grateful, and share flavorful food. Our family’s Thanksgiving table always includes traditional recipes passed down from previous generations. The recipes and stories shared are only the beginning; it is the company of those around us that make it a truly special day.
Today, as you set your table with salads, Brussels sprouts, and green bean dishes, we are honored to be a part of your Thanksgiving and your family’s favorite holiday recipes. Thank you for your commitment to providing your family with healthy fresh foods today and throughout the year.
From our Taylor family to yours, we wish you a happy & healthy Thanksgiving!
