A Ground-Breaking Sustainability-Focused Initiative, and the First of its Kind in Canada, to Help Those Living Below Canada’s Poverty Line (Toronto, ON – November 21, 2016):
Celebrating its 25th year, Brands For Canada – Canada’s #1 cost-efficient charity, is launching their United Hearts campaign and program. This revolutionary initiative has been developed to bring awareness to the 1 in 7 Canadians living below the poverty line. “Brands For Canada’s United Hearts initiative will impact thousands of TDSB students and their families by providing them with basic essential items to help meet their needs. At the TDSB, we are committed to ensuring that every student achieves success and this initiative will help do just that,” stated Robin Pilkey, Chair, Toronto District School Board.
Brands For Canada’s new United Hearts program creates care packages of new clothing, personal care goods and other basic-needs items for students, and their families and delivers them to TDSB schools. The United Hearts care packages are purposefully created to alleviate the stress many students live with on a daily basis, so they can focus on prospering intellectually, emotionally, socially and physically.
Joyce Law, Senior Communications Manager, P&G Canada said, “P&G has a longstanding commitment in giving back to the community. We are honoured to partner with Brands for Canada and the TDSB to support families in need with everyday essentials like Crest toothpaste, Ivory soap, and Gain laundry detergent.”
“By engaging individuals, corporations and organizations in conversations about how they can make a direct impact on the lives of those in need, we are creating a circular economy as we bridge the gap between surplus production and meeting the immediate needs of communities dealing with poverty,” says Helen Harakas, Executive Director, Brands For Canada.
Mitzie Hunter, Minister of Education, will be onsite at Brands For Canada headquarters for the public launch of the United Hearts program; a partnership among Brands For Canada, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), and leading name brands from Procter & Gamble who have provided an unprecedented donation of goods to assist in launching the program. Other major brands such as, GAP, H&M, McCarthy|Beatties, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Winners, YM Inc., Bell, Rogers Uptown, Mendocino, Brooks Brothers, Moores, and William Ashley donate on a regular basis.
As the Government of Ontario works to lift our province’s most vulnerable children out of poverty and help families in their every day lives, I commend Brands For Canada for partnering with local school boards through this very important program to support children in their pursuit of their full potential.”
— The Honourable Mitzie Hunter, Minister of Education
Brands For Canada to help expand their community programs, are working with United in Change, an e-commerce solution provider to develop an online portal that will engage corporations to form a sustainability-focused ecosystem where their brands can enrich the lives of communities in need of the very goods these companies have to spare, while also reducing their environmental footprint.
United Hearts encompasses two specific programs:
UNITED HEARTS STUDENT PROGRAM
In partnership with the Toronto District School Board; Brands For Canada delivers care packages filled with basic necessities such as new clothing, personal care items and school supplies directly to 600 schools for their students in need.
UNITED HEARTS SHELTER PROGRAM
Children, women, men, and families entering shelters will be gifted with backpacks of new, comforting items such as pajamas, slippers, toys, toothbrushes and blankets.
The United Hearts program is linked to a new poverty awareness campaign directed at educating students and the public about Empathy, Gratitude and Unity for all members of the community.
*The press conference will be: Monday, November 21, 2016
Time: 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Location: 3-29 Connell Court, Toronto, ON M8Z 5T7
ABOUT BRANDS FOR CANADA
Brands For Canada (formerly known as Windfall Basics) was founded in 1992. We collect surplus and unsold new goods, redirect goods that would otherwise end up in landfills and distribute new goods to Canadian families. By 1996, the organization was receiving and distributing more than 9,000 pieces of clothing per month. We have over 200 brand partners consisting of leading Canadian brands, retailers and corporations. We receive more than 900,000 pieces of clothing, personal care items and housewares annually and were rated as the number one most cost-effective charity in Canada by MoneySense Magazine in 2010 and 2013. Over the last 25 years, in conjunction with our donors and social service agency distribution partners, we have helped over 1.2 million individuals, kept almost 4 million kilograms of goods out of landfills, saved Canadians in need over $420 million, donated over 420 million dollars’ worth of goods and saved 31.7 billion litres of water. www.brandsforcanada.com
About Procter & Gamble
P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.
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