Yum! Brands Recognizes ‘Volunteers For Hope’ Across The Globe
Volunteer for Hope Program Awards Nearly $500,000 USD in Grants to Qualifying Charitable Organizations Worldwide Since 2012
March 13, 2015 /3BL Media/ - Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with more than 41,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants in over 125 countries, announced today its Volunteer for Hope program has awarded more than 160 grants resulting in nearly $500,000 to charitable organizations around the globe since its inception in 2012.
Yum! Brands’ Volunteer for Hope program, now in its third year, encourages the Company’s 1.5 million associates and franchisees to give back to the communities where they live and work through volunteerism. Since 2012, associates and franchisees from more than 20 countries have volunteered over 55,000 hours of community service. Each year, the program awards the Company’s top volunteer teams with monetary grants for their partner charities. In 2014, Yum! awarded 140 grants and nearly $220,000 to charitable agencies. Of the top six Huge Heart Champion Award winners, the leading team won a $25,000 grant for their organization, three teams were awarded $20,000 grants, an individual volunteer received a $10,000 grant and the final team won a $5,000 grant for their charities.
“As a Company with a Huge Heart, we are extremely proud of our associates and franchisees around the world who are making a difference in their communities by volunteering their time and talents to help those in need,” said Greg Creed, Chief Executive Officer, Yum! Brands. “I’m honored to award grants to the incredible charitable organizations our associates and franchisees volunteered with and hope the money will make an impact in their communities.”
This year’s winning Huge Heart Champion Award team, named Cambiando Hambre Por Esparanza, is from the Company’s KFC and Pizza Hut Honduras business. The team partnered with charity organization, Vision Mundial, to fight hunger in Consonlaca, Honduras. Through the team’s volunteerism, they feed hungry children in the community and increased the rate of families participating in local feeding and nutrition programs. The team made a lasting impact by helping to reduce the number of children suffering from malnutrition in the community.
The Volunteer for Hope program continues to build on Yum! Brands’ legacy of supporting hunger relief initiatives. In 2007, Yum! Brands created World Hunger Relief to raise awareness, volunteerism and funds for the World Food Programme and other hunger relief agencies. The Company’s World Hunger Relief effort has become the world’s largest private sector hunger relief initiative, spanning more than 125 countries, over 41,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants and 1.5 million associates. Since 2007, World Hunger Relief has resulted in more than $600 million in cash and food donations, providing 2.4 billion meals for those in need for the World Food Programme and other hunger relief organizations.
Yum! also addresses hunger in the U.S. through its Harvest program. Since 1992, the Company’s Brands have contributed more than 173 million pounds of product to over 3,000 nonprofit organizations for those at risk of hunger in the U.S. Since its launch over two decades ago, Harvest has become one of the largest prepared-food donation programs in the world. Yum! is continuing to expand Harvest globally in 2015.
For a full list of winning teams, their stories and more information on Yum!’s hunger relief and volunteerism efforts, visit www.volunteer4hope.com.
Yum! Brands
Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, has over 41,000 restaurants in more than 125 countries and territories. Yum! is ranked #216 on the Fortune 500 List with revenues of over $13 billion. In 2014 Yum! was named among the top 100 Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine and one of the Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders in North America. The Company's restaurant brands - KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell - are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories. Outside the United States, the Yum! Brands system opens over five new restaurants per day on average, making it a leader in international retail development.
Contacts
Yum! Brands, Inc.
Virginia Ferguson, 502-874-8200
