PLANO, Texas, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspired by the belief that everyone has a passion in life, TrueNorth, PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division's popular line of 100% natural nut snacks, is recognizing real people who have pursued their life's passions or their "true north," through the brand's "TrueNorth Story of the Month" campaign. For the month of September, the TrueNorth brand is recognizing the inspirational story of Karen Torrie, a volunteer firefighter and EMT.

A wife and mother of two, Karen's true north is helping her community as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. At the age of 44, Karen decided that she wanted to give back to her community, a suburb of Niagara Falls, and followed her husband's example by becoming a volunteer firefighter. After 86 hours of intense training including everything from hazmat to search and rescue training, Karen graduated and is now a firefighter and EMT. Today, she carries a pager and responds to calls all hours of the day and night. Through effort and hard work, Karen has fought several local fires including a recent fire that lasted for over eight hours.

"My husband has been a volunteer for a fire company for the past twenty years and watching him really inspired me to step out of my comfort zone and follow my passion for serving my community," shared Torrie. "I'm not the typical firefighter because I'm a woman and over the age of 40; I hope my story motivates more women to get involved in firefighting and encourages them to follow their passion whatever it might be."

"For most of us, it's hard to imagine risking our lives for strangers," said Michelle Rule, Director of marketing, TrueNorth brand, Frito-Lay North America. "Karen's passion for her community and firefighting truly inspired us. We're excited to spotlight her story and the incredible work she does -- all on a volunteer basis."

The TrueNorth brand encourages consumers to continue to submit a written essay that describes how they are pursuing their life's passions through the brand's website - www.truenorthsnacks.com. The brand will select a "Story of the Month" each month through December that will be prominently featured on the web site. In addition to being featured online, the recipient of "Story of the Month" will be awarded a $1,000 grant and a passion pack to help in the pursuit of his or her passion.

After a nationwide search last year for the most inspiring story in America, TrueNorth selected Lisa Nigro, founder of Inspiration Cafe, and featured her in a sixty-second commercial that made its debut in February during a nationally broadcast awards ceremony. More than two thousands stories were submitted from across the country that featured amazing individuals who are pursuing their life's passion and impacting the people around them.

TrueNorth is a contemporary brand of 100% natural nut snacks that followed its passion to take a simple nut and make an extraordinary snack. The TrueNorth brand believes everyone has a singular passion in life that can leave a legacy, empower others or simply make the world a more interesting place to live. By showcasing these powerful stories, TrueNorth hopes to inspire people to find the passion that drives them to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Frito-Lay North America is the $12 billion convenient foods business unit of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), which is headquartered in Purchase, NY. In addition to Frito-Lay, PepsiCo business units include Pepsi-Cola, Quaker Foods, Gatorade and Tropicana. Learn more about Frito-Lay at the corporate Web site, http://www.fritolay.com/ , the Snack Chat blog, http://www.snacks.com/ and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/fritolay.

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 18 different product lines that each generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in over 200 countries. With more than $43 billion in 2008 revenues, PepsiCo employs 198,000 people who are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.

    Contact:
    Aurora Gonzalez
    Frito-Lay
    (972) 334-3821

SOURCE: Frito-Lay

Web site: http://www.fritolay.com/
http://www.snacks.com/
http://twitter.com/fritolay/
http://www.truenorthsnacks.com/
http://www.pepsico.com/