Our very good friends in Hershey, PA sent the gift basket below (valued at $50) for us to offer to one lucky reader of the Candy Dish Blog.
Hershey has a long history of charitable work, most notably the Milton Hershey School. It’s especially nice to think of charitable acts we can all participate in around the holidays. It’s in this spirit of selfless giving that we picked the contest requirements.
In order to win the prize, please leave a comment in the comments section below telling us what charitable things you do around the holidays or any time of the year (for example, our very own Carl just raised money for children’s cancer research by agreeing to shave his head if he met his fundraising goal*).
We’ll choose one winner to receive this incredible basket of Hershey sweets (it includes tons of great stuff like KitKat miniatures, Kisses and Christmas tree-shaped Reese’s). Mention the contest on Twitter, Facebook or your blog for an extra chance to win (be sure to leave a comment with a link to show us that you did it).
Hurry: entries must be recieved by Sunday, December 20 in order for us to get the candy to the recipient by Christmas. The winner will be announced on Monday.
*He did meet his goal and he did shave his head!
I was very excited to receive an email from Cadbury Chief Executive Officer Todd Stitzer a couple of days ago. Todd wanted to tell me, and probably thousands of others, that Cadbury has raised the competitive bar of social responsibility chocolates by launching Fairtrade Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate bars into the United Kingdom chocolate bar market. The bars are now available in 200,000 stores across England and Ireland and will increase the value of of U.K. Fairtrade sales by around 25% over 2008 sales. Cadbury’s fairtrade bars are being made available at no extra cost.
Cadbury already sells Fair Trade and/or organic chocolates in the U.S. under the Green and Black’s label but their Dairy Milk Chocolate is not a big seller here. Todd noted in his email that Cadbury is making a substantial investment in sustainable cocoa growing communities and has a long history of social responsibiltiy.
What Mr. Spitzer (I feel a little too forward with this first name basis stuff) says is true. In fact, it’s true for a number of chocolate makers. Hershey’s history of social responsibility begins with the 100 year old Milton Hershey School. Mars has a long history of supporting cocoa communities and ensuring that cocoa is grown in an environmentally friendly manner. And the World Cocoa Foundation, founded in 2000, is supported by more than 70 companies and trade associations, including NCA. WCF programs raise farmer incomes, encourage responsible, sustainable cocoa farming and strengthen communities.
This announcement makes me feel good about the companies for whom I work. Do you want to try Fair Trade certified Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate?
Cadbury Chocolate by Tasumi1968.
In 26 days The Milton Hershey School will turn 100 years old. We talked before about the school and how much money Milton Hershey left as an endowment for the school. In addition to new jobs being listed in anticipation of the big push to take in an extra 300 students this year, the school has a new retrospective feature on its web site – interviews with past students. Some of these are fascinating, telling not only of success after graduating but also tying in how the core values and skills learned at the Milton Hershey School shaped their lives and decisions.
It is a moving set of videos. Go check it out and see what the graduates are saying about this very special place.
The Milton Hershey School, located, as you might guess, in Hershey, PA, is celebrating a very special anniversary this year. For 100 years, the school, originally an orphanage, has been providing children with educational and life opportunities that have made a huge difference in their lives. Today, the Milton Hershey School is much more than an orphanage.
A little bit of history of the founding of the school, in 1909, from the “Our Heritage” historical timeline:
Deed of Trust is signed in New York City to create Hershey Industrial School. Milton Hershey and his wife Catherine established a boarding school for orphan boys to be located at the Homestead, Milton Hershey’s birthplace. In 1918, Milton Hershey placed $60 million dollars (his entire fortune) in Trust for the School. In 1951 the Hershey Industrial School changed its name to the Milton Hershey School.
This is incredible. Think about the endowment you could establish today with that much money. But in today’s dollars, that $60 million is roughly equivalent to $858 million, according to the consumer price index. That amount of money is staggering, especially considering that it was his entire fortune he set aside for the school. That type of giving is something rare, something very special.
Today we are 52 days away from the official anniversary. In conjunction with the anniversary, the school is setting itself an ambitious goal. It plans to expand from 1800 students to 2100, which means adding or expanding facilities in a very dramatic way. In addition, Hershey is currently looking for students and staff as well!
You will see a few more posts on the Milton Hershey School as our countdown continues. In the meantime, go to the school’s site and read about the good work they do. Hershey is known for fun and games but there is another side to the company – a heritage of education and giving for the good of society.
