Cottonwood, Granite Park students get new blenders for foods class

Cottonwood, Granite Park students blending up something new

Thanks to a generous donation of 115 refurbished blenders from the Orem-based company Blendtec, students in the foods and nutrition labs at Cottonwood High and Granite Park Jr. High School will be blending up sauces, smoothies and more with the commercial high powered TotalBlender best known for grinding up cell phones on YouTube.

“It was a thrill for me to walk into the teachers’ classrooms and present them with multiple Blendtec blenders for their kitchen stations,” FACS Program Manager Joyce Fenton said. “Students will learn about the convenience and diversity of a small appliance. They will have a reliable machine to blend anything from pancakes and smoothies, to soups and sauces. The teachers will benefit because each kitchen station in their foods lab will have a dependable, heavy-duty blender for the students, and they won’t be scrambling around to find a blender that works, like we have had in many of our kitchens. The teachers will also benefit, because of the financial aspect. Money that would have been spent on the blenders can now be spent on other supplies or equipment.”

Each blender is valued at roughly $450 and was invented by CEO and founder of Blendtec Tom Dickson. “If people have the right tools they can do anything, so why not give them the right tools?” Dickson said.

The donations came about when a child of a Blendtec employee asked if the company would donate a blender to a local high school’s food program. That question inspired Dickson to donate to not just one school but to as many around the state as possible. The Granite School District is the third district in the state to receive Blendtec blenders.

“We are donating Blendtec blenders for students to use, encouraging them to gain a love of good food, nutrition and simplicity in preparing food, with the help of the Total Blender,” Dickson said. “Blendtec will provide blenders for Utah schools interested in having the equipment. We are proud of our state, proud of the good people that help make our equipment that is used all over the world, made in Utah. We want to share with others and perhaps spark creativity in students to become great, maybe a master chef or an engineer, like myself. ”

Blendtec is not only donating the blenders but will also repair motors of machines as needed or replace them with another recycled machine.

"Enjoy them and use them,” Dickson said. “They are made in America, and better yet, made in the Beehive State.”