Unilever Partners with Feeding America to Help Fight Hunger

Unilever announced today that in 2013 the company donated more than $1 million cash and the equivalent of 1.6 million meals* to Feeding America®, the nation's leading hunger-relief organization, to help those facing hunger nationwide. The cash donation includes $825,000 (the equivalent of more than seven million meals**) from cause marketing programs and $225,000 from the Unilever U.S. Foundation to support child hunger programs.

The cause marketing programs included the Hellmann’s 100th birthday celebration donation of $125,000 (the equivalent of one million meals**) in September and the “Add Hope” campaign, which provided a donation of $250,000 (the equivalent of more than two million meals**) to Feeding America in November. Additionally, Unilever employees joined forces to help fight hunger through its second annual company-wide food bank drive with 29 locations across the United States participating to collect more than 25,000 pounds of food and personal care products (the equivalent of more than 20,000 meals*).

A Mission Partner of Feeding America, Unilever, maker of some of America’s best loved brands, has contributed the equivalent of more than 14 million meals* over the past five years, including food and personal care items from brands like Knorr, Hellmann’s, Dove and Suave, as well as $3.3 million to help Feeding America provide more food to people in need. Contributions from Unilever are in line with the company’s global commitment under the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan to help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being.

The Unilever U.S. Foundation is supporting Feeding America child hunger programs and providing food to children who may be facing hunger in communities where Unilever employees work and live. The Foundation is reaching children at times when they are most vulnerable: in the summer, afterschool, at home, over weekends and during school vacations. In 2013, the Unilever U.S. Foundation helped support Feeding America child hunger programming by donating $225,000 with a majority of this gift supporting 10 grants of $20,000 to member food banks, enabling them to start, sustain or expand their child hunger-relief programs including Kids Cafe, BackPack, Afterschool Snack, School Pantry and the Summer Food Service Program.

“With a growing number of American families struggling with food insecurity, it is important that we do our part in the fight against hunger. By partnering with organizations, like Feeding America, we are able to improve the health and well-being of families across the country that are finding it difficult to make ends meet or are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days, ” said Jonathan Atwood, Vice President, Sustainable Living and Corporate Communications for Unilever. “Our employees are passionate about making a difference in the communities where we work and live, and thanks to their efforts we increased our donations from last year’s food bank drive. We are proud of the meaningful contributions we made in 2013 and look forward to continuing our support of hunger-relief initiatives.”

Feeding America is a nationwide network of food banks feeding more than 37 million people each year through food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in communities nationwide.

*According to the USDA, 1.2 pounds = 1 meal
**$1 donated to Feeding America helps provide 9 meals on behalf of local food banks.

About Feeding America

Feeding America is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that leads the fight against hunger in the United States. Together, we provide food to more than 37 million people through 61,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters in communities across America. Feeding America also supports programs that improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Individuals, charities, businesses and government all have a role in ending hunger. Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate. Together we can solve hunger. Visit http://www.feedingamerica.org/. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FeedingAmerica or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FeedingAmerica.

About Unilever United States, Inc.

Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in over 190 countries. Our products are present in 7 out of 10 homes globally and are used by over 2 billion people on a daily basis. In the United States the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Ben & Jerry’s, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Consort For Men, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Fruttare, Good Humor, Hellmann’s, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!, Just for Me!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Magnum, Motions, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond’s, Popsicle, Promise, Q-tips, Ragú, Simple, Slim-Fast, St. Ives, Suave, TIGI, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.

Our ambition is to double the size of our business, while reducing our overall environmental footprint (including sourcing, consumer use and disposal) and increasing our positive social impact. We are committed to helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, sourcing all our agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020, and decoupling our growth from our environmental impact. Supporting our three big goals are more than 50 time-based targets. See more on the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan at http://www.unileverusa.com/sustainable-living/.

Unilever employs more than 10,000 people in the United States – generating over $9 billion in sales in 2012. For more information, visit www.unileverusa.com.