A small town girl with a big appetite for travel, Liz joined Whole Foods Market in 2009 as part of the public relations team. This past June, Liz and nine other Whole Foods Market volunteers traveled to Kenya to meet Whole Planet Foundation’s microlending partners and work with Comfort the Children International, the nonprofit behind the L.I.F.E. Jacket project. Liz met the amazing women and children the program is empowering, and is excited that shoppers now have a way to get involved!
Looking for a perfect little something for the office crew, a gift that gives back or a stocking stuffer your loved ones can use all year long? We have just the thing to rescue you from your holiday woes — a L.I.F.E. Jacket. This reusable canvas coffee sleeve is handmade by women in Kenya to help them earn a living and — for the first time ever — send their special needs children to school.
With a fresh design and a great cause, this java jacket plays many roles. It keeps your drinks piping hot and protects your hands while keeping wasteful cardboard sleeves out of the landfill and helping to change a mother and child’s world — and all before breakfast! L.I.F.E. stands for Livelihood, Invest, Future, Empower, and that’s just what the products are helping poor mothers provide and do for their families. Want to learn more about these women, this program and the L.I.F.E. Jacket? Take a look at this video:
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS. CONGRATULATIONS TO TARA FROM ANN ANBOR, MICHIGAN! SHE’S THE WINNER OF THE LOCAL PRODUCT GIFT BASKET!
Good news – as of this week, Whole Foods Market has funded $4 million in low-interest loans for small, local producers through our Local Producer Loan Program!
Even better news – that money has helped our neighborhood farmers, bakers, artisans, mom-and-pop shops (you name it) grow their businesses and bring hundreds of high quality products into our stores for our customers to enjoy.
The best news – to celebrate the milestone, we’re giving away a basket full of goodies made by some of our loan recipients! It’s simple. Just enter a comment below by March 22nd telling us why you love your local producers and you have a chance to win! We’ll choose one lucky comment at random to receive the basket.
Why did we start the Local Producer Loan Program? Whole Foods Market recognizes that small businesses (even with high quality products and a viable business plan) sometimes need a hand to reach their big dreams. So in 2007, we launched the Local Producer Loan Program with a commitment to fund up to $10 million dollars in low-interest loans. After all, it’s our hard-working local producers and their unique offerings that give each of our stores its one-of-a-kind flavor and pizzazz.
This is a reminder that we are spreading a little love around by giving away five gift baskets full of socially responsible goodies. Why? Because it feels good to give gifts that give back! And one of the lucky winners will also receive a $150 Whole Foods Market gift card to use to purchase a few bouquets of our beautiful Whole Trade roses, Fair Trade wines or ingredients for a home-cooked dinner for two.
Just enter a comment on our contest blog post (not on this post) by February 10th telling us what makes your Valentine special and you may win one of five baskets filled with Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats – from milk chocolate hearts and chocolate dipped bananas to cinnamon sugar drizzled popcorn and dark chocolate granola. Whether it’s your sweetie or your grandma, we want to hear it all! We’ll choose five comments at random to receive a Valentine gift basket.
Even if you don’t win one of the baskets, you can still celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving gifts that give back, helping spread that V-Day love around the world. Through fair prices, direct trade, community development and environmental stewardship, gifts of Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats add a new meaning to the old saying: “it’s the thought that counts.” Yes, it’s the thought…the thought that every purchase supports the workers and communities that produce the item you’re buying. From flowers and chocolates to wines and unique snacks, you can find a bundle of treats for your valentine.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving gifts that give back, helping spread that V-Day love around the world. Through fair prices, direct trade, community development and environmental stewardship, gifts of Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats add a new meaning to the old saying: “it’s the thought that counts.” Yes, it’s the thought…the thought that every purchase supports the workers and communities that produce the item you’re buying. From flowers and chocolates to wines and unique snacks, you can find a bundle of treats for your valentine.
And to spread a little love around ourselves, we’re giving away five gift baskets full of socially responsible goodies. Why? Because it feels good to give gifts that give back! We’re giving away five baskets filled with Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats – from milk chocolate hearts and chocolate dipped bananas to cinnamon sugar drizzled popcorn and dark chocolate granola.
Just enter a comment below by February 10th telling us what makes your Valentine special. Whether it’s your sweetie or your grandma, we want to hear it all! We’ll choose five comments at random to receive a Valentine gift basket. And one of the lucky winners will also receive a $150 Whole Foods Market gift card to use to purchase a few bouquets of our beautiful Whole Trade roses, Fair Trade wines or ingredients for a home-cooked dinner for two.
Here’s the list of goodies you can look forward to in this basket of love. Even if you don’t win a basket from us, you can surprise your valentine with a sweet and meaningful treat! Read the rest of this entry »
If you haven’t figured it out yet, we are all about cherries these days. While we have lots of great recipes of our own for serving up delicious cherries, we know we don’t have a monopoly on great ways to serve up these seasonal delights. So, we reached out to some of our blogger friends and asked them to share their favorite recipes starring fresh cherries and they certainly delivered. Enjoy!
We’re going cherry crazy around here! A few Whole Foods Market team members got together to give you some quick tips on making the cherry pitting process a little easier. You can try these methods in some of our great cherry recipes like these:
Welcome to Whole Story, the official blog of Whole Foods Market.
Don’t know us? In a nutshell, we are the world's leading natural and organic grocer and we’re passionate about healthy food and a healthy planet. Learn more about us.
We’re lucky to have a whole bunch of smart, passionate people doing incredible things in areas like organics, supporting local growers, green practices, fair trade, micro-lending and all kinds of food related stuff. We’ll use this blog to share some of the cool things going on around here.
Of course, what makes this blog really exciting is YOU — so join the conversation!
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Looking for a perfect little something for the office crew, a gift that gives back or a stocking stuffer your loved ones can use all year long? We have just the thing to rescue you from your holiday woes — a L.I.F.E. Jacket. This reusable canvas coffee sleeve is handmade by women in Kenya to help them earn a living and — for the first time ever — send their special needs children to school.
This is a reminder that we are spreading a little love around by giving away five gift baskets full of socially responsible goodies. Why? Because it feels good to give gifts that give back! And one of the lucky winners will also receive a $150 Whole Foods Market gift card to use to purchase a few bouquets of our beautiful Whole Trade roses, Fair Trade wines or ingredients for a home-cooked dinner for two.
Even if you don’t win one of the baskets, you can still celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving gifts that give back, helping spread that V-Day love around the world. Through fair prices, direct trade, community development and environmental stewardship, gifts of Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats add a new meaning to the old saying: “it’s the thought that counts.” Yes, it’s the thought…the thought that every purchase supports the workers and communities that produce the item you’re buying. From flowers and chocolates to wines and unique snacks, you can find a bundle of treats for your valentine.
