Flexing Our Purposeful Muscles for The Huffington Post

The infamous Huffington Post hit it right on the nose in yesterday’s Kim & Scott’s Gourmet Pretzel article when they stated, “They’ve never shied away from using their muscle to get behind philanthropic efforts.” Pretzels for Progress, Pretzel Dough, Pretzel Power: We’re simply living our Pretzels with a Purpose dream!  To see what else they had to say click HERE for the complete article.

Real Twisted Taste Test

Realsimple.com recently conducted a twisted Kim & Scott’s taste test and featured our product on their homepage!  They loved our Cheddar Jalapeno Stuffed Pretzel raving “Stuffed with gooey cheddar cheese and spicy jalapeños, these soft pretzels are a big step above the stadium version―and they still taste great with beer.”  We personally prefer local favorite Goose Island IPA.  Chicago’s favorite beer paired with Chicago’s favorite pretzel?  Sounds like a pretty perfect Super Bowl snack to us!  Click here to read Real Simple’s review.

Twisting a Difference to Create Meaningful Progress in Haiti

When we heard about the devastation in Haiti, we immediately realized another purpose for our pretzels–inspiring and empowering others to quickly help raise much-needed funds for Haiti. And with the help, concern, and creative problem-solving skills offered by our magical staff, a new effort was born:  Pretzels for Progress!  Our founders, Kim & Scott Holstein, have generously donated Gourmet Dipped pretzel rods at no cost for fund-raising efforts supporting Haitian relief. Individuals and organizations can pick up the rods at our bakery (click here for location) or have them delivered with the cost of shipping only. We will be sending all funds collected to Save The Children, the leading independent organization creating lasting change in the lives of children in need, with over 90% of expenditures going to program services.

With over 100,000 pretzel rods ready to help us raise critical funds for this relief effort, we have the ability to quickly raise a minimum of $100,00 for Save The Children!  Save the Children has launched an emergency relief effort to aid children and families in Haiti in the aftermath this major 7.0-magnitude earthquake near the capital city of Port-au-Prince.  They are quickly preparing and providing immediate lifesaving assistance, such as food, water, shelter and child-friendly spaces.  As of this past weekend, their latest field report highlights the following:

• 300 household kits have been distributed at a makeshift camp in Port-au-Prince
• Their mobile clinic in Leogane continues seeing patients, roughly 100 per day. 70 health workers were trained in Leogane and another mobile clinic was established.
• 4 mobile health teams with 1 doctor and 1 nurse each, have been seeing patients in Jacmel.
• 3 Child Friendly Spaces were established in Jacmel. One additional Child Friendly Space was established in Port-au-Prince.
• 5,000 families were identified in Jacmel to receive shelter and non-food items.
• Trained personnel began hygiene promotion in communities in Port-au-Prince.
• Save the Children has worked in Haiti since 1978 and currently has about 200 staff on the ground.

You can follow Save The Children’s emergency blog “Voices from the Field,” watch their Haiti videos on You Tube, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook (see below).   

• Save The Children Webiste http://www.savethechildren.org
• Twitter: twitter.com/savethechildren
• Become a Fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com/savethechildren
• You Tube: www.youtube.com/user/SavetheChildrenUSA
• Emergency Blog, “Voices from the Field” http://savethechildren.typepad.com/

Ways You Can Help

• We support all those who would like to get involved and encourage you to empower other organizations to get involved with Pretzels for Progress.
• We will also be matching employee donations made to other organizations supporting Haitian relief efforts.  
• If you’d like to send funds directly to Save The Children, you can donate through clicking this link Donate Now  to the Haiti Earthquake Children in Emergency Fund. You can also donate by calling 1-800-728-3843 or 1-203-221-4030. Finally, you can donate $10 by texting “SAVE” to 20222. 

By contributing in any way, you enable organizations to prepare and respond immediately to those who urgently need our help, and you fuel our mission to live Pretzels with a Purpose!

Women of the World Panel Discussion

This morning, Kim participated in a Women of the World (WOW) panel discussion titled Eat to Live, Live to Eat – Kneading and Feeding Our Souls at the Union League Club in Chicago.  WOW is an organization who’s mission is to “Provide opportunities to professional women through collaboration, networking & mentoring. By sharing thought leadership, collective resources and passion, women can acquire the skills to forge strategic relationships locally & globally.”  As any of you mothers know, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to balance work, soccer, pilates, homework, and everything else your family demands and still manage to fuel your body with healthful foods. These experts provided excellent resources to win the constant time battle and eat healthfully at the same time.  Click HERE to check out more about WOW.

MLK Day with Kim & Scott

With Martin Luther King Day being a national day of service, we wanted to find a meaningful way to share our pretzels on this day and make a difference!  With the kids home from school, we rounded up a group and headed to our pretzel bakery.  Together, we wrote inspiring notes to attach on our individually wrapped chocolate dipped pretzel sticks with messages like “Believe in Yourself”, “Have Hope” and “Follow Your Dreams”, along with “Pretzel Power!” (the Kim & Scott’s Gourmet Pretzels message of empowering others).  The kids then affixed the messages to the pretzel rods, boxed them, and we delivered the packages to local homeless shelters around Chicago.  When all was said and done, over 1200 of the delicious treats were shared!  Some of the places we visited included St. Sylvester’s Church and Shelter, Lincoln Park Community Shelter, New Moms, and the Inspiration Café, where the kids handed out the pretzel sticks and shared in the spirit of supporting our world community.   

Talk about Pretzels for Peace!