Giant Food and Unilever's Knorr® Brand Team Up to Support U.S. Dream Academy Families

LANDOVER, Md., July 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Giant Food and Unilever Knorr teamed up with U.S. Dream Academy, an organization that aims to empower the nation's children to reach their dreams through academic, social and values enrichment, in an effort to fight food insecurity in the Ward 8 community of Washington, D.C. through customer donations of non-perishable items, a virtual cooking class hosted by Giant's Ward 8 nutritionist as well as Unilever chefs and nutritionists, and a $25,000 donation from Unilever.

"Giant is proud to team up with quality food brands like Knorr, with shared values of supporting our local communities in need with nutritious food," said Felis Andrade, Director of External Communications and Community Relations. "This recent work to benefit the U.S. Dream Academy families in the Ward 8 community is just one effort as part of our larger mission to address hunger issues in the neighborhoods we serve."

For a week in May, Giant hosted donation bins at all 164 of its stores throughout the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware region, offering customers the chance to get involved to support their neighbors in need. Customers who purchased five participating Knorr Rice or Pasta Sides received two free cans of participating Giant own-brand soups. Customers were then given the option to donate any of the items from their purchase in store to directly benefit U.S. Dream Academy Ward 8 families.

Giant and Unilever nutritionists as well as Unilever chefs also hosted a virtual cooking class for over 100 people in the Ward 8 community to teach healthy and budget-friendly cooking and nutrition tips. As part of the virtual cooking class, Giant donated meal kits which included recipe ingredients and Knorr provided recipe booklets, cutting boards, aprons and insulated tote bags to all of the participating families.

Rounding out the recent efforts, Unilever announced a monetary donation of $25,000 to the U.S. Dream Academy to support families in the Ward 8 community.

"U.S. Dream Academy is proud to partner with Giant and Unilever to ensure families have access to quality, healthy food options in their own community," said C. Diane Wallace Booker, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at U.S. Dream Academy. "Ward 8 was hardest hit by the pandemic and we saw food insecurity at alarming rates during this time. We were pleased to collaborate to bring together fun, learning and awareness raising around healthy eating and the need for greater access to healthy, affordable food in Ward 8. We also engaged our young people to help us raise awareness - one of our DreamKids designed a food 'superhero' to promote the healthy food campaign in the Giant stores. And over 100 Ward 8 residents had lots of fun in their new Knorr aprons, cooking and learning together as a family and enjoying the fellowship of community in the virtual cooking class led by the Knorr Chef."

"Unilever's Knorr brand believes that wholesome, nutritious food should be accessible and affordable to all," said Christina DiPietro, Team Lead at Englewood Cliffs, N.J. based Unilever. "We are proud to commence this partnership between Giant and US Dream Academy, helping to fight food insecurity in the local community. It was the Unilever Knorr team's privilege to conduct a virtual cooking class and provide nutritious recipes to the families of Ward 8. We look forward to future partnerships bringing purpose to life in-store and in the communities we serve."

For more information about Giant's efforts to address hunger and food insecurity, visit giantfood.com.

About Giant Food
This year, Giant Food is celebrating 85 years as a community grocery store. Since opening its first location on Georgia Ave. in Washington, DC in 1936, Giant has been an integral part of its customers' lives and the communities it serves. Giant is committed to being a Better Neighbor and has designated four main giving pillars that address local Food Insecurity, Military Support, Pediatric Cancer Research and Social Equality. Giant is headquartered in Landover, Md. and operates 164 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia with approximately 20,000 associates. Included within the 164 stores are 152 full-service pharmacies, 82 full-service PNC Banks and 24 Starbucks locations. Giant fits all the ways today's busy customers want to shop - whether in store or online. With 147 Giant Pickup locations and Giant Delivery available to all market areas in DC, MD, VA and DE, customers have even more convenient options right at their fingertips to get the best product and prices, whenever and however they want. For more information on Giant, visit: www.giantfood.com.

US Dream Academy
U.S. Dream Academy, founded in 1998, is a national nonprofit whose mission is to inspire and invest in the lives of children of incarcerated parents and families in communities harmed by systemic inequities. We seek to maximize their potential by building dreams, perseverance, academic skills, and character. The program, founded by renowned Grammy Nominated gospel singer Wintley Phipps, is currently operating in multiple cities and over a dozen schools nationwide including Baltimore, MD., Houston, TX., Orlando, FL., Philadelphia, PA., Salt Lake City, UT., and in Washington, D.C. and has served over 10,000 young people.

About Knorr
Knorr believes that wholesome, nutritious food should be accessible and affordable to all. That's not a reality for everyone in today's America. That's why we're on a journey to ensure all Americans can create healthy meals they feel good about. Whether it's creating high-quality products, offering simple chef-developed recipes, or supporting organizations and initiatives that provide access to healthy foods, Knorr remains committed to its long history of making good food available to everyone. The business was formed in 1838, when founder Carl Heinrich Knorr pioneered experiments in drying seasonings and vegetables to preserve their flavor and nutritional value. Since then, Knorr® has become an international brand offering a wide range of bouillons, soups, seasonings, sauces, soupy snacks, dressings, and frozen and ready-made meals.

About Unilever North America 
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods & Refreshment products, with sales in over 190 countries and products used by 2.5 billion people every day. We have 149,000 employees and generated sales of €50.7 billion in 2020. Over half of our footprint is in developing and emerging markets. We have around 400 brands found in homes all over the world. In the United States and Canada, the portfolio includes iconic brand such as: Dove, Knorr, Hellmann's, Lipton, Magnum, Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Degree, Dollar Shave Club, Q-tips, Seventh Generation, St. Ives, Suave, TRESemmé, and Vaseline.

Our vision is to be the global leader in sustainable business and to demonstrate how our purpose-led, future-fit business model drives superior performance. We have a long tradition of being a progressive, responsible business. It goes back to the days of our founder William Lever, who launched the world's first purposeful brand, Sunlight Soap, more than 100 years ago, and it's at the heart of how we run our company today.

The Unilever Compass, our sustainable business strategy, is set out to help us deliver superior performance and drive sustainable and responsible growth, while:

• improving the health of the planet;
• improving people's health, confidence and wellbeing; and
• contributing to a fairer and more socially inclusive world.

While there is still more to do, we are proud to have been recognized in 2020 as a sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and – for the tenth-consecutive year – as the top ranked company in the 2020 GlobeScan/SustainAbility Sustainability Leaders survey.
For more information on Unilever U.S. and its brands visit: www.unileverusa.com
For more information on Unilever Canada and its brands visit: www.unilever.ca

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SOURCE Giant Food