City / Bartley Kives
Pamphlet Promotes fruits, veggies
LITTLE ghouls out trick-or-treating in Royalwood on Halloween might receive a decidedly non-sugary surprise. Instead of handing out candy, one resident of the southeast Winnipeg neighbourhood is doling out nutritional advice.
Inspired by the child-obesity epidemic, entrepreneur Robert Zyluk has created a 24-page booklet that encourages kids to collect stickers from fruits and vegetables. He's dubbed the pamphlet Produce Passport.
On Halloween, he'll be dispensing free copies of his booklet, which encourages young'ns to consume 21 forms of fruit and veggies and tells them where the produce comes from.
"I joke that I'm going to spend Halloween handing out Produce Passport and the next day cleaning the eggs off my house," said Zyluk, adding his creation actually goes over well because most kids enjoy collectibles.
"I've also learned one of my neighbours has been handing out toothbrushes for years, and my house has never sustained any collateral damage. So I should be OK."
Zyluk, a freelance writer and former salesman, said he's already distributed more than 10,000 copies of Produce Passport, which he sells for $2.95 over the Internet.
He hopes to distribute even more through major supermarket chains in the U.S., but says he's motivated more by the need to promote healthy habits than by profit.
Lisa Skromeda, a registered dietitian, said Zyluk's Halloween-night gesture is a good idea because it provides a bit of balance with all the glucose most homes hand out.
"It's smart, because fruits and vegetables aren't 'fun.' There's no advertising machine promoting them," she said.
"You can't compete with Kraft and Nestle and Coca Cola, so anything like this is helpful."
Zyluk's booklet can be viewed at www.producepassport.com.
