Brothers-All-Natural Donates 10% of Fruit Crisps Sales in Wegmans Stores to Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection
Feeling good about eating healthy snacks has never felt so good. Three companies are working together to raise money for a local charity that has earned national recognition for having such a huge impact on the community
Rochester, NY, February 5, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Brothers-All-Natural is the market leader in freeze-dried fruit snacks, producing their award winning Fruit Crisps and Fruit Clusters. Made with 100% fruit and containing no additives, preservatives or added sugar, their Fruit Crisps have become the healthy snack of choice for millions of health-conscious consumers.
From now through March 2015 Brothers-All-Natural will donate 10% of all Fruit Crisps sales from Wegmans stores to Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection (HW-SC), a nationally recognized youth development program helping at-risk youth living in poverty to stay in school, graduate from high school, and progress to post-secondary education and/or employment.
"We are proud to be an ongoing supporter of this amazing cause and we wanted to make a bigger impact"
Travis Betters, CEO of Brothers International Food Corporation
"Customers will feel good knowing that part of their purchase will be invested in a program that helps young people succeed,” says Wegmans Community Relations Manager Linda Lovejoy. “It’s a simple and easy way to help make a difference in our community.”
For the past 28 years, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection (HW-SC) has earned national recognition as an innovative leading solution to the poverty and dropout crisis, delivering consistent, measurable results for school districts and their students in the areas of high school graduation, college and career readiness, and employment.
“We are proud to be an ongoing supporter of this amazing cause and we wanted to make a bigger impact”, says Travis Betters, CEO of Brothers International Food Corporation”. Giving back to the community has always been important to us. This is why Hillside was a natural fit to work with.”
Hillside provides a full time, paid, professional youth advocate who engages students and families and helps them connect to academic, workforce and social supports. Each advocate releases the potential of students and is held accountable for them achieving high school graduation, college readiness skills, job training and a part time employment experience.
“Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection is supported through public-private partnerships. We could not deliver the program services and have the positive impact on graduation rates and youth development in our community without the support of companies like Brothers International. We greatly appreciate their investment in the HW-SC program”, says Augustin Melendez, President of Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection.
Since the program’s inception, over 5,000 young people have graduated from our urban high schools and have become productive citizens in the communities where they live and work today. There are currently over 4,000 students in the program today in New York and Maryland
Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection was named one of 23 high-potential programs nationwide in “Success at Every Step: How 23 Programs Support Youth on the Path to College and Beyond,” a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded report from the American Youth Policy Forum.
About Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection
Having celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2012, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection is an affiliate of Hillside Family of Agencies. The program serves over 4,000 youth at risk of failing to graduate from high school in Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo, NY, and in Prince George’s County, MD. Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection’s evidence-based model is comprehensive and unique, combining long-term mentoring with job training, part-time work experience and year-round academic support. In 2013, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection was named to the Social Impact Exchange S&I 100, an index of top performing U.S. nonprofits that are poised for growth.
About Brothers International Food Corporation
Brothers International Food Corporation is a privately owned food and beverage company based in Rochester, New York with offices in North Carolina, China and Ecuador. The company was founded in 2001 by brothers Matt and Travis Betters, whose family was involved in the processed fruit and vegetable industry for more than 65 years. In addition to supplying top-quality fruit and fruit juice concentrates to a number of Fortune 100 food companies, Brothers International is the parent company of Brothers-All-Natural, producing Fruit Crisps and Fruit Clusters, all-natural 100% fruit snacks, Harvester Farms freeze-dried fruits and vegetables for long term food storage, as well as Fruit & Oats, and Lost Vineyards, importing low-cost wines from little-known vineyards in Europe and South America.
