LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell and one of the top 100 Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine, announced its World Hunger Relief effort has been named the winner of the top Cause Branding Campaign and top Nonprofit Partnership of the Year by PR News’ CSR (corporate social responsibility) Awards. World Hunger Relief was also named a finalist for Global Campaign of the Year and a finalist for Cause-Related Campaign of the Year by PRWeek’s annual Awards.
Yum! Brands’ World Hunger Relief effort is 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. The initiative began in 2007 in an effort to raise awareness, volunteerism and funds for the World Food Programme (WFP) and other hunger relief agencies. Since 2007, World Hunger Relief has raised $600 million in cash and food donations, providing 2.4 billion nutritious meals for women and children around the globe.
PR News’ annual CSR Awards and PRWeek’s annual Awards honor the most outstanding domestic and global communications efforts that set new standards of excellence in the PR industry. Both awards recognized Yum! Brands for the Company’s “Pass The Red Cup” campaign. Last fall the Company created unprecedented awareness and engagement with the “Pass The Red Cup” social media campaign featuring WFP Ambassador Against Hunger, Multi-Grammy Award winner and international superstar Christina Aguilera. Aguilera has served as a volunteer spokesperson for World Hunger Relief since 2009 and has helped to raise millions for WFP and other hunger relief agencies. The 2014 campaign raised a record-breaking $40 million in overall cash and food donations for WFP and others.
“With one in nine people globally going to bed hungry each night, we believe it’s our privilege and responsibility to address world hunger,” said Greg Creed, CEO, Yum! Brands. “The recognition reflects the incredible awareness our global spokesperson Christina Aguilera has helped us raise about this critical issue. It also demonstrates the hard work and passion of our associates and franchisees around the globe who have raised record-breaking funds and food donations and volunteered in their local communities toward hunger relief.”
In 2007, there were nearly 1 billion people suffering from chronic hunger around the world. Today, the number has been reduced to 805 million people, according to the United Nations. Every U.S. dollar raised by Yum! Brands’ World Hunger Relief effort goes directly towards WFP’s operations to fight hunger worldwide, mostly to disaster relief and school meals programs. Just one U.S. dollar provides meals to four hungry children at school.
Over the years, Yum! Brands’ World Hunger Relief has received numerous awards and accolades for its efforts to fight global hunger. President Clinton recognized Yum! at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2008 for the Company’s commitment to donating $80 million over five years to help WFP and others provide 200 million meals for hungry school children in developing countries. WFP named Yum! Brands “Partner of the Year” in 2010 for the Company’s World Hunger Relief effort. Yum!’s Executive Chairman, David Novak, and Christina Aguilera were honored at the State Department in 2012 with the George McGovern Leadership Award. In addition, World Hunger Relief has been recognized with more than 30 top honors for its cause-related public relations and marketing efforts from leading organizations such as PR News, PRWeek, SABRE and Bulldog, among others.
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 food 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 more information on Yum! Brands Community initiatives around the world, visit www.yumcsr.com or read the latest news in the Yum! Global Newsroom, www.yum.com/newsroom.
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 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.
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food in emergencies and working with communities to build resilience. Last year, WFP assisted more than 80 million people in 75 countries. For more information, visit www.wfp.org.
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