PORTLAND, ORE. — Bob and Charlee Moore, founders of Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, Inc., Milwaukie, Ore., have donated $1.2 million to fund the ECO Project (Ending Childhood Obesity) at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland. The program, which was unveiled at the Whole Grains Council conference Jan. 31 in Portland, is designed to improve the dietary habits of families and help end the causes of the growing obesity epidemic in the United States. The initiative will begin with a pilot program in Portland, and it offers a series of 12 hour-long workshops, providing education and training to both adults and children about cooking with whole foods and improving overall fitness. The project currently has 45 participants and is just completing its third week. The donation for the ECO Project comes on the heels of the Moore’s $5 million donation to establish the Moore Family Center for Whole Grain Foods, Nutrition and Preventative Health at Oregon State University. “We wanted to support the thing we believed in the most — obesity in children and the problems with it,” Mr. Moore said.