Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. Commits Over $540,000 to Knoxville Area Nonprofits

KNOXVILLE, TN, August 28, 2013 /3BL Media/ - As part of its dedication to supporting communities where it does business, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., (GMCR) (NASDAQ: GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee and single serve beverages with its innovative Keurig® brewing technology, has committed over $540,000 to 25 Knoxville-area non-profit organizations.

GMCR allocates a portion of pre-tax earnings each year to support social and environmental initiatives. Domestic grant making is led by employees, who work together with community leaders to identify and bring resources to the area’s most pressing issues.

GMCR’s production and distribution facility in Knoxville, Tennessee is one of the company’s 12 sites throughout North America.

“Each GMCR site has its own focus areas that are specific to its community,” said Karen Yacos, Director of Strategic Philanthropy at GMCR. “Our grants help support the work, but to increase impact, we also strive to connect with our partners and local issues more directly through volunteerism and production donations as well,” Yacos said. “We want to help solve problems, not just respond to them.”

GMCR gives full time employees up to 52 hours of paid time off each year to volunteer at the non-profit of their choice.

One of the largest of the grants in the Knoxville area, $35,000, went to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley to fund the Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders Program, which includes job training and career development for teens.

“The grant we received from Green Mountain Coffee has produced great results for our teens in the Career Launch and Junior Staff programs,” said Lisa Hurst, President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley. “Many of our teens get their first job experience as Junior Staff and learn valuable skills in the process. The funding has helped us teach dozens of teens about career exploration, interview skills, and job expectations, so that they can prepare for their careers as adults.”

The remainder of the grants went to a variety of Knoxville-based organizations that support energy, youth, and educational issues, including:

Energy Use and Efficiency

• Focus the Nation: $20,000 to promote energy literacy and leadership skills of UTK students.
• Narrow Ridge Earth Literacy Center: $20,000 to support earth literacy programs focusing on energy efficiency and alternative energy.
• Random Acts of Flowers: $4100 to enhance recycling efforts.

Youth and Community Support Services

• African American Appalachian Arts: $10,000 to support workshops on African American culture, nutrition, and goal setting at the Kuumba Kamp for children.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee: $20,000 for mentoring 50 children in Knox County and East Tennessee.
• Boys & Girls Club of the Smoky Mountains: $28,700 to help teens prepare for their futures “real world” where they will have careers, budgets and responsibilities.
• Children’s Center of the Cumberlands: $11,700 for medical examinations, therapeutic interventions, mentoring and medication management for at-risk youth.
• Clearfork Community Institute: $25,000 for an intergenerational leadership program.
• East TN Children’s Hospital: $10,000 for a community garden project designed to fight childhood obesity.
• FISH Hospitality Pantries: $11,400 to support the Women’s Community School, the Mosaic Initiative, and Spanish/English cultural exchange.
• Knoxville Area Rescue Ministries: $50,000 for “LaunchPoint” to help homeless men and women develop a life plan and the skills to achieve it.
• Second Harvest: $9000 to provide backpacks of nutritious food every Friday to students at risk of going hungry over the weekend.
• Volunteer Ministry Center: $25,000 for basic life skills training for homeless people.
• YWCA Knoxville: $30,000 for educational workshops, life skills, and job-readiness counseling for women in transitional housing.

Access to Quality Education

• Friends of Literacy: $10,000 for an adult reading program.
• Friends of the Knox County Library: $15,000 to provide one new, age-appropriate book every month to 1250 Knox County children each year.
• Goodwill Industries: $10,000 to support the Certified Nursing Assistant Training program.
• Helen Ross McNabb Center: $6500 to purchase curricula for youth with severe mental and/or alcohol and drug issues.
• Junior Achievement: $50,000 to support in-classroom programs and the Junior Achievement BizTown experience for 150 5th graders from Dogwood Elementary School.
• Knoxville Area Urban League: $30,000 for a workforce/employment assistance program.
• Knoxville Symphony Orchestra: $1000 for free, in-school music education concerts.
• Knoxville Zoo: $35,100 for native pollinator gardens that serve as outdoor classrooms for five inner city elementary schools.
• tnAchieves: $40,000 for matching funds to assist Jefferson and Claiborn County students pursue post-secondary education.
• Tribe One: $15,000 for a six-week summer literacy program for children in grades K-6.

About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.
As a leader in specialty coffee and coffee makers, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) (NASDAQ:GMCR), is recognized for its award-winning coffees, innovative Keurig® Single Cup brewing technology, and socially responsible business practices. GMCR supports local and global communities by investing in sustainably-grown coffee and donating a portion of its pre-tax profits to social and environmental projects. For more information, please visit us online at www.GMCR.com; www.greenmountaincoffeeroasters.com or www.keurig.com.

GMCR routinely posts information that may be of importance to investors in the Investor Relations section of its website, including news releases and its complete financial statements, as filed with the SEC. The Company encourages investors to consult this section of its website regularly for important information and news. Additionally, by subscribing to the Company’s automatic email news release delivery, individuals can receive news directly from GMCR as it is released.

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