PURCHASE, N.Y., Oct. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, global food and beverage company PepsiCo kicked off a month-long community service program with 1,000 New York-area employees packing more than 1 million nutritious meals for underserved communities in Westchester County and communities in need in Latin America. PepsiCo's month of giving started today with over 300 employees at the company's headquarters in Purchase, New York, packing more than 285,000 meals.
"PepsiCo's determination to reach people in need and fight hunger is greater than ever before as global hunger continues to rise – impacting an astounding one in every nine people," said Jon Banner, President, PepsiCo Foundation and EVP, Communications. "Our year-round efforts to alleviate hunger intensify today, as our team packs meals for more than 10,000 school children in Guatemalan communities near where we work. At the same time, victims of Hurricane Florence in the Southeast U.S. are being reached by our Food for Good nutrition team with healthy meals as they rebuild their homes and communities."
Over the course of the month, New York-area employees will be hosting 34 packing events to deliver more than 1 million nutritious meals created by international hunger relief organization Rise Against Hunger. The meals provide a comprehensive array of micronutrients and are enriched with rice, soy protein, dried vegetables and 23 essential vitamins and nutrients. Global humanitarian organization CARE and Rise Against Hunger will deliver the finished meals to food insecure communities in Guatemala, elementary schools in El Salvador and Venezuelan families displaced in Colombia and Brazil with the help of local PepsiCo team members.
"Hunger is solvable and is the common thread among the world's most challenging issues," said Rod Brooks, President and CEO of Rise Against Hunger. "By providing nutritious meals to those in need today and creating sustainable solutions for tomorrow, we can create a world without hunger."
"Malnourishment and poverty are intertwined, especially in agricultural communities," said Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE USA. "We are proud to work with PepsiCo to improve the lives of thousands of families in Guatemala, continuing our six decades of work addressing the needs of Guatemalans."
Additionally, PepsiCo's signature nutrition operation, Food for Good, will pack 2,000 weekend backpack bundles full of 10,000 meals for families in Westchester County this month in partnership with Feeding Westchester, a member of the Feeding America network.
PepsiCo and the PepsiCo Foundation have made significant investments and established key partnerships to provide nutritious food and nutrition education globally, in line with its Performance with Purpose goal to provide 3 billion nutritious servings to underserved communities. At the end of 2017, the company increased its products with grains, fruits and vegetables, protein, water and unsweetened tea—what it calls its Everyday Nutrition portfolio—to represent 27.5 percent of the company's total net revenue. PepsiCo's signature nutrition operation Food for Good has also delivered 80 million servings of nutritious foods to low-income families in 19 U.S. communities since 2009, and since 2008 the PepsiCo Foundation has provided more than $12 million of support to the World Food Programme to improve the availability of affordable nutrition for families and children around the world.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2017, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our fundamental belief that the success of our company is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world around us. We believe that continuously improving the products we sell, operating responsibly to protect our planet and empowering people around the world is what enables PepsiCo to run a successful global company that creates long-term value for society and our shareholders. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.
About the PepsiCo Foundation
Established in 1962, the PepsiCo Foundation works with non-profit partners to develop innovative, sustainable solutions that address challenges in underserved communities around the world. The Foundation, along with PepsiCo and its employees, seeks to catalyze efforts that advance our Performance with Purpose 2025 goals related to increasing access to nutritious servings, providing access to safe water, partnering to increase recycling rates, and enabling young women to progress through school and be successful in the workforce. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com/Purpose/Global-Citizenship.
About Rise Against Hunger
Rise Against Hunger, an international hunger relief organization, aims to show the world that it is, in fact, possible to end hunger by the year 2030. With 23 U.S. locations and five international offices, the organization is committed to nourishing lives, providing emergency aid, empowering communities and growing the hunger movement. Rise Against Hunger has facilitated the packaging of more than 417 million meals distributed to countries around the world.
About CARE
Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package®, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside women and girls because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. That's why women and girls are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve education and health, create economic opportunity, respond to emergencies and confront hunger. Last year CARE worked in 93 countries and reached more than 63 million people around the world. Learn more at care.org.
Media Contact: PepsiCoMediaRelations@pepsico.com
SOURCE PepsiCo, Inc.
