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WEIGHT WATCHERS SECOND ANNUAL LOSE FOR GOOD™ CAMPAIGN WRAPS UP AND REVEALS EVEN MORE GOOD
Members and Online Subscribers Lost an Estimated 4 Million Pounds in Seven Weeks; Weight Watchers donates $1 Million Dollars to help fight hunger to
Share Our Strength and Action Against Hunger
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November 9, 2009 (New York, NY) --- Weight Watchers (WTW) announced today the donation of one million dollars to two hunger fighting organizations – Share Our Strength, the leading organization working to end childhood hunger in America, and Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organization whose mission is to eliminate hunger. During a seven week period, from August 30, 2009 to October 17, 2009, Weight Watchers Members and Online Subscribers worked towards adopting a healthier lifestyle and lost approximately four million pounds, allowing the company to reach its one million dollar donation goal as part of its Lose For Good™ campaign. The campaign was created to help raise awareness about two global epidemics, obesity and hunger, encouraging Americans to get healthier while also doing good for others. In addition, during the campaign, Weight Watchers staff voluntarily organized local food drives at over 3,300 locations across the country, resulting in the approximate donation of more than two million pounds of food to local food banks.
“The Lose For Good campaign inspired our members and staff to rally together and help others in need in their own backyard and around the country,” said David Kirchhoff, President and CEO Weight Watchers International, Inc. “In this short period of time, I am so proud that we collectively got healthier, exceeded last year’s campaign by holding more food drives and that we were able to donate over two million pounds of food to food banks around the country.”
Just a few of the many communities that pulled together extraordinary food donation efforts included:
- Waldorf, MD, which has a population of 15,000, was where Weight Watchers members gathered nearly 10,000 pounds of food donations and gave new meaning to the notion of small communities with big hearts.
- A Texas Mayor declares Lose For Good campaign food pick-up day as “City of Arlington Weight Watchers Day,” to celebrate city employees’ dedication to health, wellness and community service.
- Raleigh, NC, where members collected over two tons of food for the Food Bank of Eastern Carolina and the Durham Rescue Mission.
After receiving a donation of over 1,000 pounds of food for the Monterey County Food Bank, Executive Director Leslie Sunny said “the Lose For Good campaign donation will be a big help and that within the last three years we have seen a 91% increase in the demand for emergency food assistance.”
“Share Our Strength has made a commitment to end childhood hunger in the United States by 2015 while improving nutrition and health,” says Billy Shore, Founder and Executive Director, Share Our Strength. “Last year’s Lose For Good campaign grants supported programs and projects that connect children who are at risk of hunger with nutritious food where they live, learn and play and we’re thankful that Weight Watchers is once again one of our partners in the fight to achieve this goal.” |
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Through Share Our Strength, Weight Watchers Lose For Good grants from the 2008 campaign supported 50 organizations whose cumulative work has reached over 400,000 children, helping provide over 4.3 million meals to children. Through Action Against Hunger, Weight Watchers Lose For Good campaign’s donation represents the difference between life and death for up to 6,000 malnourished children abroad.
“Given that poverty, dietary choices, and education contribute to the obesity epidemic, we cannot change poverty but we can change the choices that children and adults make through education and creating options of healthy food,” says Lance Cheslock, Executive Director of La Puente Home. “The grant we received from Share Our Strength through the Weight Watchers Lose For Good campaign has helped us start a sustainable nutrition education program in our community.” About Weight Watchers International, Inc.
Weight Watchers International, Inc. is the world's leading provider of weight management services, operating globally through a network of Company-owned and franchise operations. Weight Watchers holds over 50,000 weekly meetings where members receive group support and education about healthy eating patterns, behavior modification and physical activity. WeightWatchers.com provides innovative, subscription weight management products over the Internet and is the leading Internet-based weight management provider in the world. In addition, Weight Watchers offers a wide range of products, publications and programs for those interested in weight loss and weight control.
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To learn more about Weight Watchers services, products and publications, visit www.weightwatchers.com.
To find the nearest Weight Watchers meeting location, call 1-800-651-6000
or click on the “Find a Meeting” link at the top of our homepage. |
About Share Our Strength®
Share Our Strength® is the leading national organization working to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry. The organization weaves together a net of community groups, activists and food programs to catch children at risk of hunger and ensure they have nutritious food where they live, learn and play. Share Our Strength works with the culinary industry to create engaging, pioneering programs like Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation®, Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale®, Share Our Strength’s A Tasteful Pursuit®, Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out™, and Share Our Strength’s Operation Frontline®. For more information, please visit strength.org.About Action Against Hunger
Action Against Hunger is an international humanitarian organization that saves the lives of malnourished children while providing families with access to safe water and long-term solutions to hunger. In emergency situations of conflict, natural disaster, and chronic food insecurity, Action Against Hunger’s programs reach 5 million people a year, restoring dignity, self-sufficiency, and independence to vulnerable populations in some 40 countries around the world. Since its founding in 1979, Action Against Hunger has tirelessly pursued its vision of a world without hunger. To learn more, visit www.actionagainsthunger.org. |
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