Festival Foods: Joins CASA in celebrating Family Day to help prevent substance abuse among children and teens

Contact:

Mark Skogen

President/Owner

Festival Foods West Support Center

276 W. Mason Street

Green Bay, WI 54303

920-496-2960 x 1411

mskogen@festfoods.com

September 23, 2009 – Festival Foods is joining forces with The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University to celebrate the eighth annual Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your ChildrenTM on Monday, September 28, 2009.

Launched by CASA in 2001, Family Day is a national movement that encourages parents to frequently eat dinner with their kids and be involved in their children’s lives. CASA’s research consistently shows that the more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs. Family Day helps remind busy families of the invaluable role that parental involvement plays in steering children and teens away from cigarettes, drugs and alcohol.

Mark Skogen, Chief Executive Officer of Festival Foods said, “I urge parents to make family meals and family conversations an everyday occurrence.”

According to CASA’s report The Importance of Family Dinners III, compared to kids who have fewer than three family dinners per week, children and teens who have frequent family dinners are at 70 percent lower risk for substance abuse; half as likely to try cigarettes or marijuana; one third less likely to try alcohol and half as likely to get drunk monthly; and almost 40 percent likelier to say future drug use will never happen. The report also found that teens who have frequent family dinners are likelier to get better grades in school and are likelier to have parents who take responsibility for teen drug use.

To encourage families to spend more time together, Festival Foods will be awarding great prizes to those who pledge to become Family Day STARs. STARs must pledge to:

Spend time with their kids around the dinner table. Talk to their children about friends, interests, and the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Answer their questions and listen to what they say. Recognize that they have the power to keep their children substance free.

Those who pledge online at http://www.festfoods.com will be registered to win the following prizes:

1- $100 Festival Foods Gift Cards

2- $50 Festival Foods Gift Cards

6- $25 Festival Foods Gift Cards

Festival Foods is committed to strengthening families and believes that celebrating Family Day is an important first step in helping to provide a substance free youth for America’s children and teens.

For additional information about Family Day, visit http://www.casafamilyday.org.

For additional information about Festival Foods, visit http://www.festfoods.com.

Festival Foods operates 13 stores in Wisconsin, and employs more than 3,400 full and part-time associates.

A family-owned company, Festival Foods has stores in Green Bay (2), De Pere, Appleton (2), Oshkosh, Manitowoc, Fond du Lac, Marshfield, Eau Claire, Holmen, Onalaska and La Crosse.