Empowering Individuals in the Global Community Through Entrepreneurship
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Florida Regional Office
“As soon as I found out I was able to deduct a measly $10 a paycheck to WPF I did. Why? Well I read the information and realized that 3 lattes a pay period would provide a person with the ability to make it on their own. Start their own business, put food on their table for their family and community. It makes me feel good that my small donation of $10 a pay period brings security, independence, and wealth to people who would not have that option before. I donate because I can. “
Jennifer Jones is a Regional Accountant for the Florida Region
Guest Service Team Leader Tara Hughes had an unusual birthday request this year. She asked her friends and fellow team members to bring in their old clothes, household goods, books and vacuum cleaners to be sold in a rummage sale to empower the poor to lift themselves out of poverty. She spent all day encouraging people to come shop the resulting rummage sale to recycle all the great things that their co-workers brought in. Together with her husband Jonathan who came from Woodway to help, her master merchandiser Tod and the lovely team of Gloria and Kaylan, she raised over $800 to empower the poor while recycling slightly used clothing and goods.We are ever grateful for your wonderful attitude and open heart Tara. Happy Birthday!
P Street, Washington, D.C., Mid-Atlantic Region
Kevin is one of three Whole Planet Foundation stewards at the P Street Whole Foods Market. When Regional VP Jane Mueller donated her All*Star jacket to the P Street auction to empower the poor through microcredit, Kevin gave $200 for it. He says “I bought it because it was for a good cause, and I gave it back so that we can raise more money. I challenge anyone in the company to match what I did.” At Whole Foods Market, All*Star team members are the best of the best, so Jane and Kevin’s generosity is right in line with the program which rewards excellence. Store Team Leader Jean-Michel Bartolo says “Kevin is a terrific team member and one of the reasons why P Street’s shoppers and team members have raised the most donations in the company!” Kevin is grilling hot dogs for microcredit and has helped raise $2,530 since the campaign started. He is a Customer Service team member and serves as the store’s parking coordinator. Jean-Michel says the P Street store has a lot of potential and wants to make a difference in the world. Thanks Kevin, Jane, Jean-Michel and all of P Street for the example you set and for making a difference!
Guest Service Team Leader Nina Enamorado and her team are finding all sorts of ways to spread awareness and excitement during the Annual in Store Campaign including cashier “shout outs”, lunches for donations, pies contests and….. Wilcrest is a small store with a mighty voice. Hooray for Nina and her team for empowering each other to empower the poor through microcredit."QUOTE"
Lamar
Store Team Member Awareness Group Leader Falesha Thrash got the idea from Tim Embody of Williamson in the South region to let "Pies Fly for the Planet". Lamar team members voted with their dollars (and coins) to land their Store Team Leader Steph Steele and Prep Foods Team Leader Shawn Slaven in the middle of a massive pie barrage. Here’s what Store Promotions Specialist Rebecca Scofield had to say about the "Pie in the Face" Event: "All of our Store Leaders and department Team Leaders submitted a picture of themselves that was glued to an empty coffee can. TM’s were encouraged to put money in the can of the person they would most like to see get a pie-in-the-face. The two with the most money (one from store leadership and one from department leadership) were then declared the ‘winners’ and received 1 pie-in-the-face from every single department. At Lamar that is 14 pies each! Needless to say Steph Steele (our Store Team Leader) and Shawn Slaven were incredible sports for taking the onslaught of pies that were hurled at them over and over again.” The pies were hurled at them by happy team members all in the name of empowering the poor while bemused shoppers looked on. The $514 raised by the “pie in the face” event will be used to fund microfinance in countries where Whole Foods Market sources product.
Whole Foods Market Williamson team members in the South Region raised awareness and $200 in their "Pie-in-the-Face" event and got to pie Regional Vice President Omar Gaye with at least nine pies. Way to step up to the plate Omar!
Carrie Lechevallier and Annette White of the Raleigh store in North Carolina are partners in their passion about Whole Planet Foundation. Together they have done a variety of projects and events to raise awareness and funds. Here is what Annette has to say about their activities: “We have both been passionate about Whole Planet Foundation since its creation. In the Raleigh store, Carrie is the Marketing Team Leader and I am the Demo Specialist. The role of women and families in different societies is a topic that is close to both of our hearts and the locations where Whole Planet Foundation is working include places that are sacred to both of us. Rarely does a store meeting go by when we do not give an update on what we are doing (in the store and local community) to help eliminate poverty through empowerment. We keep the Foundation in mind when planning events and activities year round. One such project is that we have sold greeting cards made with photos from each of our trips to Guatemala, with all the proceeds going to Whole Planet Foundation. This year during March, we put together several events that told the story of Whole Planet and its global impact including a movie screening for "Milagros: Made in Mexico." This amazing film was created by four local film makers and tells the story of the impact of micro-credit in small villages in Mexico. Partnering with a local Mexican restaurant and art school, we presented the film to an auditorium of people who saw powerful images and heard stories and posed questions to the film makers and us.” I was fortunate to be the first person from the South Region to be able to go on the Team Member Volunteer Trip during its pilot round in Costa Rica in 2007 and got to meet women whose lives have been personally impacted by microloans made possible through Whole Planet Foundation. It had a powerful impact on me and I have brought it back to the region with unstoppable passion to share the story with every Team Member so that they know what an amazing difference we are making in the world.” From Carrie: “I wanted to update you on Annette’s efforts. On October 11th she took part in a panel discussion at the Cameron Village Library. The discussion was on Micro-lending and Fair Trade. The other panelists were Elizabeth from 10,000 Villages and Larry from Larry’s Beans (we sell his local coffee). Annette did a great job (as usual) representing The Whole Planet Foundation!” Carrie and Annette are truly ambassadors for Whole Planet Foundation. Please join them in their quest to help Professor Muhammad Yunus “put poverty in a museum”.
Amber Alkofer of the Guest Services team at Palo Alto has such a happy and mission driven attitude that I asked her to share her ideas on the foundation with you. “WPF is just one more Global opportunity to crawl outside my comfortable world and give a little bit ($5 a paycheck that I do not miss...what is that… a latte?) to create an abundance for some one who has to walk 5 miles to get water from a well. I am from North Dakota and I know what it is like to haul water from a well, but not from a far distance and only when I visited some cousins a few times a year on the farm. I can help!! That’s how I feel. I can help in a way that is sustaining and bettering lives of woman and children, making communities stronger, healthier, and more educated. I believe in Grameen Trust and the few individuals who made an idea into a practice. The idea is the practice of giving a little, to help a lot which goes for the benefit of society, not to reap a personal material reward. I feel honored that I can help and I am amazed and awed at the great empathy and energy that my team in Palo Alto showed me with their enthusiasm for Whole Planet Foundation. We helped to raise more money than any other store in the Northern California region. We just realized how we could make a difference.”
"Why I give to the Whole Planet Foundation in particular is because I feel my dollars will go further to help somebody out of poverty in a country in the developing world."
Elizabeth Carrion-Smuck is in Cash Up and is athe Backup Graphic Artist at the Quarry store in San Antonio Texas.
Enrique Rovero of the Arroyo store in Pasadena California is proud of Whole Planet Foundation and says: I am very passionate about this program because I know it really works and is helping people that just need the opportunity so they can help themselves. During New Hire Paperwork with every new hire, I go into detail about how this program works. I show a lot of passion and give examples about people that have been helped. The way I explain it leads 95% of New Hires to enroll. Out of all the 220 Team Members that were hired at the job fair, about 210 people signed up for it. Supporting Whole Planet Foundation is “helping people help themselves.” Whole Foods Market Team members are wonderful and are huge supporters of the foundation and for this we thank you all.
“I used to be a Payroll Benefits Specialist Back-up/In Store Educator and I have a lot of background information on the foundation. When Alomgir Hossain, the country director for Grameen Guatemala, came to the Regional Office in the Southern Pacific Region, I got a chance to meet him.
Mona Rodriguez is an extraordinary person full of compassion and energy. She has done a series of awareness events about Whole Planet Foundation since she returned from the Team Member Volunteer trip to Costa Rica. A favorite is the “Pumpkin project” where she and her fellow Team Members at Cedar Center painted pumpkins to be sold in her store with all of the proceeds going to Whole Planet Foundation. Check out the pumpkins!
Here is what she has to say about her experiences on the Team Member Volunteer program when she went to Costa Rica for a month through Whole Foods Market:
“Whole Planet Foundation is an absolutely amazing organization. Being in Costa Rica opened my eyes to how much some of us take for granted. The ability to meet the wonderful women who benefit from the microloans was a life changing experience. Having the ability to make a difference by planting 600 trees and teaching English has taught my family and I that it is not only okay to sacrifice time and money to help others, it is the most awarding gift anyone can have!”
Thank you Mona!
Traci Rong is a natural for motivating people to action which is how she has earned her place on the team member spotlight. She is inquisitive and tenacious and delights in sharing her contagious enthusiasm for Whole Planet Foundation with team members as an In Store Educator at the Walnut Creek store in Northern California. Her team members are steadily getting more and more involved with 38% of team members now generously contributing through payroll deduction every two weeks.
For Valentine’s Day she and the floral team traded Whole Trade Guarantee roses with students at a local high school for a contribution to fund microcredit through Whole Planet Foundation. They attached a Whole Planet Foundation funded microcredit loan recipient's profile to each rose to raise awareness amongst the young people. Awareness is a key to action and a great way to engage the students in the small actions that add up to big changes.
Traci says “Most people aren’t poor because they’re inherently lazy, they lack resources. Yunus’ model for micro-finance as a vehicle to empower people to lift themselves up is brilliant.”
Thank you Traci for awakening the spirit of giving and empowerment in your store and everywhere you go.
A $100 tip came to Whole Foods Market Regency team member Bahia Mar for her help with a customer’s gift basket orders. When Bahia heard the news of the tip, she said, “Well, I had help making those gift baskets.” So, the TMs primarily involved in helping this customer with her gift baskets, John Kelley, Bahia Mar and Josh Sronce decided rather than split it up, they would donate it to the Whole Planet Foundation.
Omaha Nebraska’s Regency Payroll Benefits Specialist Kathy Uhlenbrock says: “That must have been stellar customer service to receive a tip that large and great compassion to pass it along.”
Read what team member volunteer Kerry Page has to say about her adventure in Guatemala and how she leveraged her trip and her souvenir purchases into a cycle of awareness and money raising for Whole Planet Foundation that keeps giving and giving and giving…. Thank you Kerry!
“Going to Guatemala meant so much to me because it put real people and real faces on the Whole Planet Foundation mission. My perspective completely changed when I looked in the eyes of those women borrowers- what challenges they face everyday and how hard their life is. They are beautiful, amazing women with a lot on their shoulders to carry and they just need that little loan to rise above the challenges of their society and their life. I felt a responsibility to them and I knew the best way I could assist them is by making team members aware of the paycheck contribution program and the team member volunteer program. Not every team member can do the volunteer part, but every team member has the opportunity to be a part of the paycheck contribution program. The $1 minimum that we can give out of our paycheck is so small, we won’t miss it- but it is powerful when every team member in a store does it because that $1 collectively turns into $166 dollars, enough for an average loan for a women, or 2 loans for 2 women, etc. The effects of that $1 are even more far reaching because it touches her family, her children, and even the generations to come. I hope that through my wonderful Guatemala experience and my pictures that I can touch the hearts of our team members who can touch all the lives of the borrowers and their families.
I took $166 dollars that my Pikes Peak team members donated to me in an all store meeting and I used that money to buy souvenirs directly from our borrowers which was a suitcase full- so I gave most of the clothes I brought with me on the trip to the teachers in the Spanish school so that I would have a suitcase to bring back the souvenirs. I have been raffling off those souvenirs to team members that have contributed through the paycheck program, and to the public if they make a donation to WPF during the presentations.” Kerry Page
“I was blown away to learn that billions of people live on pennies a day. Through the Whole Planet Foundation, it is so easy to really make a difference in the lives of these women.” Nancy Seeno
The Arlington store in Virginia was number one in the Prosperity Campaign, raising $25,652 through the generous donations of our guests and team members. Customer service team members did a fantastic job of raising awareness. Arlington's top two cashiers raising money in the prosperity campaign are Fatiya, who raised $2,600 and Tsion who raised $2,200. “Our team members know how to share our stories and their personal experiences is what won the hearts and minds of our customers in supporting this worthy project,” said Victor Vasquez, Arlington Store Team Leader. Outgoing Arlington Store Team Leader, Jean-Michel Bartolo said of the caring and selfless Arlington community that “their generosity demonstrates their commitment to a global community and the mission of microlending.” Hooray for Arlington Customer Service team members! Thank you all for empowering so many individuals to lift themselves out of poverty, to the tune of $25,652.
It is beautiful how our customers and team members stepped up to the plate to empower individuals in emerging economies where we source product, by giving generously. Thank you all.
Philip Sansone, the President of Whole Planet Foundation and John Mackey, Chairman and CEO of Whole Foods Market and a strong supporter of Whole Planet Foundation, went to Arlington to personally thank the Arlington Customer Service team for their stupendous effort.
Store Team Leader Cyn Leo and her team members Carl Johnson, Sue D’Arrigo, Edgar Mejia, Oscar Hernandez welcomed Joy Peterson, Internal Programs Coordinator, to Mill Valley as part of a 17 store awareness raising tour for Whole Planet Foundation in the Northern California Region. What a beautiful store and what great team members! Thank you all!
San Rafael TMs Bertha Maier and Akila Ramakrishnan were instrumental in the Prosperity Campaign in the San Rafael store in Northern California. Houray for all Customer Service team members who made the prosperity Campaign a huge success!
