Food For The Poor & Whole Foods Market Partner to Help Haiti
COCONUT CREEK, FL (December 2, 2008) – Over the course of just a few weeks, Whole Foods Market customers in Florida donated tens of thousands of dollars to Food For The Poor’s ongoing efforts to bring life-saving relief to storm victims in Haiti.
After four Caribbean storms ravaged the tiny island nation of Haiti, Whole Foods Market Aventura Store Team Leader Evan Schmiedehaus came up with the idea of starting a Haitian Relief Fund as a way of partnering with Food For The Poor and getting help to Haiti. Starting on September 19, Whole Foods Market customers were given the opportunity to donate money or food at stores throughout Florida. By October 10, when the initiative wrapped up, big-hearted Whole Foods customers had generously given $50,810 and several pallets of food.
“This is a sizeable donation that will do a lot of good for thousands of destitute Haitians,” said Food For The Poor’s Executive Director Angel Aloma. “Thanks to Whole Foods and its customers, many hungry children will be fed and many on the verge of starvation will be saved.”
Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market (www.wholefoodsmarket.com), a leader in the natural and organic foods industry and America’s first national certified organic grocer, was named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” in 2008 by Health magazine. The Whole Foods Market motto, “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”(tm) captures the company’s mission to find success in customer satisfaction and wellness, employee excellence and happiness, enhanced shareholder value, community support and environmental improvement. Thanks to its 53,000 Team Members, Whole Foods Market has been ranked as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America by FORTUNE magazine for 11 consecutive years.
Food For The Poor is the largest international relief and development organization in the nation. With more than 96% of all donations going directly to programs that help those in need, Food For The Poor provides nourishing food, safe shelter, necessary medical care, educational materials, support for orphans and the aged, and much more to the poorest of the poor in 17 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Contact:
Hugh Graf
(954) 427-2222 x 6610