Milwaukee, WI, January 22, 2014 – Rishi Tea has donated $50,000 to Whole Planet Foundation to help fund microcredit for poverty alleviation worldwide. This donation is enough to provide 285 people living in abject poverty with a loan and an opportunity to get ahead: to start their own home-based businesses, gain financial independence and lift their families out of poverty.
With this generous donation, Rishi Tea joins Whole Planet Foundation’s 2014 Supplier Alliance for Microcredit, a band of like-minded companies that invest $50,000 annually in a future without poverty.
„Rishi Tea is thrilled and honored to be partnering with Whole Planet Foundation whose mission has so many parallels to how we operate. Rishi Tea is intent on raising awareness of and funds for the program among our highly committed and active customer base, and through our work at origin we can identify microcredit candidates for our two entities to engage and support, resulting in benefits to the recipients and their villages that would compound exponentially given the growth of tea.“ Said Beau Bernstein, Director of Marketing at Rishi Tea.
„Above and beyond the steps we take to build enduring and meaningful relationships with producers, our business is grounded on the principles of long-term sustainability and community growth. Rishi has always strived to reinvest in our origin communities as well as support organizations and causes that align with our guiding principles.“
In 2005, Whole Foods Market established Whole Planet Foundation as a way to give back to the communities in which it does business. Through grants to microfinance partners, the foundation funds microloans in poor communities where the grocer sources products. To date, Whole Planet Foundation has authorized $41 million and funded more than $29 million in microfinance programs in 58 countries, including the U.S., positively impacted more than 1.9 million people worldwide.
„For a woman living in extreme poverty, a $200 loan is enough to help her start a new life: to launch a business, secure a steady stream of income and provide basic needs for her family,“ said Philip Sansone, president and executive director for Whole Planet Foundation. „With Rishi Tea’s generous donation, we will be able to give more than 1,700 people the chance for a new life.“
For more about Rishi Tea, please visit http://www.rishi-tea.com
To learn more about the Whole Planet Foundation, or for stories from microcredit loan recipients, visit: http://www.wholeplanetfoundation.org.
Press Contact:
Beau Bernstein
Rishi Tea
Milwaukee, WI
+1 917-514-3700
http://www.rishi-tea.com