CHICAGO, November 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Pearl Milling Company, the 132-year-old pancake mix and syrup brand formerly known as Aunt Jemima, today announced the 2021 recipients of its community funding initiative, PEARL Promise. With a purpose rooted in inspiring moments of joy at the breakfast table and in the communities it serves, Pearl Milling Company launched the PEARL Pledge as a way to help 501c(3) organizations working to empower women and black girls across the country. In its first year, Pearl Milling Company selected 14 organizations to receive grants ranging from $25,000 at $100,000 to help fund programs that support the PEARL Pledge mission.
2021 PEARL Grant Recipients
“As we continue the journey of rebranding Pearl Milling Company, we want to make sure we present ourselves to our consumers and help create moments of joy in their lives in a more impactful way,” said Michelle McAlister, Chief Marketing Officer. “The PEARL Pledge program champions the success of Black women and girls by focusing on the pillars of prosperity, empowerment, access, representation and leadership. We are proud to support these incredible organizations because they help bring about positive change in their communities.”
Pearl Milling Company launched the PEARL Pledge program May 27 with a call for applications and nominations from 501c(3) organizations in communities across the country. With missions ranging from advocating for mental health to reducing food inequity, this year’s grantees highlighted several pillars of the PEARL Pledge through their inspiring work. Learn more about this year’s PEARL Pledge recipients in the links below:
- American Cancer Society (Detroit, Michigan)
- appetite for change (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
- black girls can (St Albans, NY)
- Film school for black girls (Glendora, California)
- Black girls smile (Atlanta, Georgia)
- Black Girl Ventures Foundation (Alexandria, Virginia)
- BOSS on Campus (Chicago, IL)
- The Ellington Fund (washington d.c.)
- The Black Women’s Welfare Foundation (Madison, Wis.)
- girls for a change (North Chesterfield, Virginia)
- girls like me Project (Chicago, IL)
- Minnie’s Pantry (Map, TX)
- No more empty jars (Omaha, NE)
- Collective of urban farmers (Chicago, IL)
Pearl Milling Company worked with an Advisory Board of influential women and industry thought leaders who have a personal interest in uplifting Black women and girls to help identify recipients for the 2021 PEARL Pledge Grant. are:
- Renee Bluitt, filmmaker, podcaster and storyteller committed to centering and celebrating black women. She channeled this passion into the creation and executive production of her documentary, She did this.
- Eunique Jones Gibson, a creative visionary, cultural architect and social activist who develops award-winning campaigns and products that spark conversation, introspection and social change. Among his most notable campaigns is “Because of them we can”.
- Valeisha Butterfield Jonesan award-winning global business leader with more than 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies. She focuses on building greater inclusion for underrepresented communities at the intersections of technology, entertainment and politics.
- Elisa Camahor Page, author, activist, entrepreneur and consultant best known as co-founder and COO of global women’s media company BlogHer. She also co-wrote Roadmap for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism and Advocacy for Alla bestseller on everyday activism.
- Millie Poiriera world-renowned chef, television personality, restaurateur and philanthropist who founded Full Heart Full Bellies, a charity that began in COVID-19 by providing meals to families of the New York one Bronx community and continues to drive change by organizing food, information and support campaigns to end food poverty.
“As someone deeply invested in amplifying and creating opportunity for the black community, especially for black women and girls, it was refreshing to see Pearl Milling Company create an initiative that supports the incredible work already done. by non-profit organizations across the country,” mentioned Eunique Jones Gibson, a PEARL Pledge advisor. “The dedication and passion of these organizations is inspiring, and I can’t wait to see what they will accomplish with the PEARL Pledge grant.”
In the continuation of PepsiCo’s Race Equality Journey efforts, PEARL Pledge complements PepsiCo’s community investment, which, along with the PepsiCo Foundation, includes providing $6.5 million in community impact grants, $25 million to provide scholarships to Black students and create pathways to high-quality careers through the Pathways to Readiness and Empowerment program. In 2020, PepsiCo announced that it would invest more than $400 million over five years to increase black representation at PepsiCo, support black-owned businesses, and uplift black communities in the United States.
Details of the 2022 PEARL Pledge grant program and application dates will be announced in early 2022. For more information on PEARL Pledge, visit www.pearlmillingcompany.com/pearlpledge and follow Pearl Milling Company on social media at www.facebook.com/pearlmillingcompany and www.instagram.com/pearlmillingcompany/.
About Pearl Milling Company
The Pearl Milling Company brand, owned by The Quaker Oats Company, a unit of PepsiCo, Inc., offers flavorful pancake mixes, syrups, cornmeal, flour and oats that help families create memorable breakfast moments for over a century. Founded in 1888, Pearl Milling Company began as a small mill St. Joseph, Missouri producing flour, cornmeal and, from 1889, the famous self-rising pancake mix that came to be known as Aunt Jemima. Its pancake mix varieties include Original, Buttermilk, Whole Wheat as well as its Pancake On The Go products in Chocolate Chip, Buttermilk & Maple, Blueberry and Double Chocolate. Syrup varieties include Original, Lite, Butter Rich, Butter Lite and Country Rich, in addition to several cornmeal, cornmeal mix and oatmeal offerings. For more information, please visit www.pearlmillingcompany.com, www.facebook.com/pearlmillingcompany or follow us on instagram @pearlmillingcompany.
About Quaker® Oats Company
Chicago-headquartered Quaker Oats is a unit of PepsiCo, Inc., one of the world’s largest consumer packaged goods companies. For more than 130 years, Quaker brands have been symbols of quality, good taste and nutrition. Holding leading positions in their respective categories, Quaker® Oats, Quaker® Rice Cakes and Quaker Chewy® Granola Bars are consumer favorites. For more information, please visit www.QuakerOats.com, www.Facebook.com/Quaker or follow us on Twitter @Quaker.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than a billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $67 billion net sales in 2019, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 23 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales. Leading PepsiCo is our vision to be the global leader in convenient food and beverage by winning with purpose. “Winning with Purpose” reflects our ambition to sustainably win in the marketplace and embed purpose into all aspects of the business. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.
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SOURCEThe Quaker Oats Company
