As part of our kick-off to 2010, the Whole Grains Council once again organized a Whole Grains Giveaway! All too often healthy food is seen as an elite privilege for the well-to-do. We at the WGC believe that all socio-economic groups should have access to healthy food, including whole grains.
We asked our WGC Members to donate whole grain products to a worthy charity of their choice during the first few months of 2010. This year’s Whole Grains Giveaway cumulated in March, which is National Nutrition Month — a perfect time to make sure that everyone, at every income level, has access to whole grains.
Grand Total of Donations — 37.5 Tons of Whole Grains!
We are thrilled to announce that between January 1 and March 31 of 2010, our generous Members donated 37.5 TONS of whole grain products to good causes throughout the United States. Often, our Members worked directly with charitable causes near their office and manufacturing locations, proving that the best way to help “save the world” can often start in our own backyards.
Thanks to these generous contributors
The following companies generously made contributions to the Whole Grains Giveaway. A big thanks to all of them!
| Company | Donation |
| Back To Nature | Madison, WI-based Back To Nature donated boxes of their Madagascar Vanilla Wafers and California Lemon Cookies to benefit The Nature Conservancy, a global conservation organization dedicated to the preservation of ecologically important land and water. |
| Dave’s Killer Bread / NatureBake | Milwaukie, OR-based Dave’s Killer Bread / NatureBake donated a varity of their whole grain bread loaves to multiple organizations in the Portland metropolitan area, including Sisters of the Road, Milwaukie Center, Portland Rescue Mission, Oregon Food Bank, The Helping Hand of Oregon, Loaves and Fishes, and Clackamas County Gleaners. |
| Frontier Soups | Waukegan, IL-based Frontier Soups donated packages of their Washington State Squash and Lentil whole grain soup mix to the Staben Center, a transitional shelter for men in south Waukegan, IL. Some of the soups will be used by the soup kitchen operated by St. Mary’s church of Lake Forest in Waukegan, while the rest of the whole grain soup mix will be served up at the soup kitchen operated by St. Thomas of Canterbury Church in Chicago. |
| Golden Temple of Oregon | Golden Temple of Oregon frequently participates in several local charitable efforts to ensure that in-need children and adults benefit from eating healthy whole grain cereals. In addition to providing individual cereal servings to the Lane County Schools, Golden Temple also donates bulk cereals several times a month to Food for Lane County in Eugene, OR and the local Oregon food bank. |
| King Arthur Flour | During the first three months of 2010, Vermont’s own King Arthur Flour taught students at several dozen middle schools across the country how to bake with whole grains through its Life Skills Bread Baking program. The employee-owned company donated whole wheat flour for the students to bake whole wheat loaves, which are then donated to community food pantries. King Authur also donated traditional whole wheat flour and white whole wheat flour as part of their national Traveling Baking Demo program. |
| Mestemacher Bread / Carl Brandt, Inc. | Carl Brandt, Inc., a Fairfield, CT firm noted for fine specialty food imports, donated Mestemacher whole grain bread to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. Founded in 1975, the FoodBank assists three-quarters of a million low-income people in 18 of New Jersey’s 21 counties. |
| Oldways | The WGC’s own “parent” non-profit organization Oldways donated loaves of 100% whole grain bread to the Seacoast Family Food Pantry in Portsmouth, NH. |
| Vaasan & Vaasan Oy | In a truly international show of generosity, Finland’s own Vaasan & Vaasan Oy donated crates of their Finn Crisp Multi-Grain Thins to various food banks throughout New Jersey. Vaasan & Vaasan Oy’s history of making traditional crispbreads stretches back over 100 years and their Finn Crisps can be found on grocery shelves in more than 10 countries, including the United States. |
| Whole Foods | Whole Foods Market Rocky Mountain Bakehouse has an ongoing partnership with a local school in Denver, CO. Every week, the team donates Multigrain Sandwich Bread (and other breads bearing the Whole Grain Stamp) to the Lowry Elementary School’s Food for Kids Backpack program, which provides nutritious food to in-need children and their families. |
Members of the media: Please ask us for contact details for any of these generous contributors, if you’d like a local angle on this story of giving.