Dole Packaged Foods Celebrates Its Hawaiian Heritage With 2017 Rose Parade Entry

Dole Packaged Food's 2017 float, "Spirit of Hawaii," celebrates its rich history and beginnings in the Hawaiian Islands dating back to 1899 when James Dole first traveled to the islands. The float includes a 10-foot tall sculpture of King Kamehameha, the largest waterfall in Rose Parade history consisting of more than 2,000 gallons of recycled water, an erupting volcano, and colorful animals including parrots, sea turtles and geckos decorated in tropical flowers. The floats lagoon will feature six dancers and at street level an additional 12 dancers will move to Pacific-Island dances. 

"Hawaii is an important part of Dole's heritage," said Dave Spare, Vice President of Marketing, Dole Packaged Foods. "We want to share our rich history with Rose Parade viewers across the globe through this float and bring a bit of paradise to the community during the holiday season – through not only this beautiful float design, but also our charitable efforts with Feeding America and FOOD Share."

Throughout its participation in the Rose Parade, Dole has showcased various countries and cultures where DOLE fruit is grown. Dole Packaged Foods is committed to providing convenient, healthy, non-GMO fruits and snacks to help people live long and healthy lives, as well as using sustainable, environmentally friendly, healthy and safe ways to grow its products to conserve Earth's most previous natural resources for generations to come. The 2017 float features fresh, non-GMO fruits and vegetables grown by DOLE, including bananas, pineapples and mangoes.

Along with the 'Spirit of Hawaii,' Dole is participating in the 'Spirit of Giving,' and will be collecting non-perishable food items as part of its participation at the annual Live on Green event in Pasadena Dec. 30 – Jan. 1, as well as at Fiesta Floats and its headquarters in Westlake Village, Calif. to benefit Ventura County's regional food bank, FOOD Share, part of Feeding America, and its partners throughout the San Gabriel Valley. Dole has selected FOOD Share President and CEO Bonnie Atmore to ride on Dole's Rose Parade float in honor of her commitment to feeding, nourishing, and educating the hungry.

"We are honored to be recognized by Dole and to be included in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade," said FOOD Share President and CEO Bonnie Atmore. "FOOD Share and Dole share similar values of ensuring access to nutritious foods for the community and I couldn't be happier to emphasize our commitment to helping people live long and healthy lives."

To kick off the final road to the 2017 Rose Parade, Dole Packaged Foods is launching a sweepstakes, in which one lucky winner and a guest will get to travel to the Big Island of Hawaii. Launching today, and running through midnight on December 31, 2016, fans can enter for a chance to win the grand prize vacation, including hotel and airfare, as well as other weekly prizes. For more information about the sweepstakes, and to enter, visit Facebook.com/DoleSunshine or DoleSunshine.com/paradise.

About Dole Packaged Foods
Dole Packaged Foods LLC is a world leader in growing, sourcing, distributing and marketing fruit and healthy snacks. Dole sells a full-line of packaged ambient fruit, frozen fruit, dried fruit, and juices. The company focuses on four pillars of sustainability in all its operations: water management, carbon footprint, soil conservation and packaging. For more information please visit www.dolesunshine.com or www.doleintlcsr.com.

About FOOD Share
More than 35 years ago, eight citizens performed a good deed by distributing food to those who were in need underneath a Ventura bridge. The early philanthropic movement quickly formed into what is now Ventura County's regional food bank, FOOD Share, which has grown from serving a few hundred hungry people per month to 74,500 people. Today, staff and volunteers distribute more than 12 million pounds of food, or 10 million meals annually from its distribution site; more than 180 partner agencies, which include neighborhood and church food distributions and soup kitchens; as well as hunger assistance programs. FOOD Share's programs provide healthy nutrition and education to children, families and seniors. The regional food bank's Feed the Line, Shorten the Line efforts draw together community stakeholders and other non-profit and community service organizations to empower the food insecure through "stability to thrive" programs such as the FOOD Share and Friends Mobile Pantry which provides county-wide access to resources and programs that facilitate self-sustainability.  FOOD Share is working to provide compelling data and create greater public awareness around the number of food insecure residents in Ventura County and the impact the prevalence of hunger has on the entire community.  The regional food bank is always seeking like-minded stakeholders, donors, influencers, and supporters who are interested in learning more about food insecurity and investing in the tools and strategies FOOD Share is developing to solve the shared issue of food insecurity across the entire county.  A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, FOOD Share is a member of the Feeding America network, the nation's largest hunger-relief organization.

In 2016, FOOD Share is rallying the community behind a viral initiative encouraging the public, local businesses, major corporations and community leaders and stakeholders to help combat hunger through an outreach campaign called Share16. The Share16 Challenge asks the community to share ways in which they support FOOD Share by documenting their experiences and efforts on social media with the #Share16 hashtag.

For more information about FOOD Share, visit www.foodshare.com. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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SOURCE Dole Packaged Foods

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