New Orleans’ youth have 40,000 reasons to celebrate this summer. During this year’s Essence Music Festival, Coca-Cola donated $40,000 to the Friends of the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) to benefit its youth outdoor adventure program. The amount is significant as it recognizes the 40th anniversary of ESSENCE magazine.
“Coca-Cola is dedicated to supporting initiatives like the Wilderness Program, which creates opportunities for our youth to engage in fun activities that promote active living, such as swimming, hiking and canoeing,” offered Ingrid Saunders Jones, senior vice president of Global Community Connections for The Coca-Cola Company and chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation, in a press statement.
The charitable giving didn’t end with NORD. In recognition of the 16th anniversary of the Festival, Coca-Cola also donated $16,000 to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana. This is a continuation of the global leader’s support of Second Harvest, which provides nourishment to the local New Orleans community – including thousands of emergency food boxes to fishermen and families affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and unending support to victims of the economic recession and Hurricane Katrina.
Jones continued, “Coca-Cola is committed to ensuring that those organizations, on which residents rely during emergencies, have the resources to serve those in need. Both donations represent our sincere thanks and gratitude to all those who do the heavy lifting in New Orleans to create safe and fun activities for our youth and to sustain our communities in times of need.”
The Coca-Cola Foundation is committed to helping build sustainable communities worldwide. They have been the presenting sponsor of the Festival for the past 15 years and have donated more than $300,000 to local New Orleans organizations during the three-day event.–melinda johnson
(Photo Caption: (l-r) New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Coca-Cola Polar Bear, Ingrid Saunders Jones, and Essence magazine’s editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murray)
