Pure Leaf™ Iced Tea Partners with Gail Simmons to Bring Fresh Produce to Communities Nationwide

PURCHASE, N.Y., May 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Pure Leaf™ Iced Tea, a product of The Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, proudly announced today it is continuing its partnership with Gail Simmons, TV personality and Special Projects Director at FOOD & WINE magazine, to support the campaign's mission of bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to communities nationwide. Through the brand's "Share the Love of Leaves" program, Pure Leaf fans can get involved and make a difference in their communities by helping the brand donate up to $150,000 total to Wholesome Wave, a nonprofit that focuses on making fresh, healthy, locally grown food affordable and accessible to all.

"At its core, Pure Leaf uses real tea leaves to deliver an outstanding product with real brewed tea taste. We wanted to take our commitment to realness to the next level, and we found a great way by supporting access to wholesome foods," said Eric Whitehouse, marketing director, The Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership. "In partnership with Gail Simmons, our shared passion will raise awareness of Wholesome Wave's efforts and provide underserved communities with access to fresh produce through local farmers markets."

"Although all food can be beautiful, shopping at my local farmers market is where I find some of my favorite, fresh ingredients that lead to great-tasting and nourishing dishes," said Simmons. "Thanks to Pure Leaf's support of Wholesome Wave, we're able to help bring these fresh foods and real experiences to communities in need across the country."

The center of the "Share the Love of Leaves" program is Pure Leaf's newly launched Tumblr page (www.TheLoveOfLeaves.com), which will serve as a destination for fans to follow the program and experience the brand's passion for realness through recipes, household tips, DIY projects and daily inspiration all while keeping an eye on how the donations add up through the summer. Starting today, consumers can "Share the Love of Leaves" on social media to trigger a donation and support the mission. For every social engagement from fans on Pure Leaf's Facebook or Tumblr, and use of the #loveofleaves hashtag on Instagram and Twitter, Pure Leaf will donate an additional $1, up to $50,000, for a grand total donation of $150,000. This will help provide 100,000 pounds of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables for communities nationwide.

Today, Simmons will also help bring the brand's mission to life during the "Love of Leaves" media luncheon in New York City, where she will demonstrate and prepare dishes that highlight the fresh tastes of the season with produce from farmers markets. Pure Leaf and Simmons will also participate in FOOD & WINE's marquee FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen in June. In addition, Pure Leaf's sampling program plans to hit a wide variety of farmers markets and retail locations across different regions. Its activation will highlight the premium and authentic nature of the brand and encourage fans and market-goers to share photos of their experiences in support of their local farmers markets.

"The support from Pure Leaf and its fans is vital in raising awareness of our mission and funding for our programs all over the country," said Michel Nischan, award-winning chef and CEO/founder of Wholesome Wave. "We believe that everybody in the world should be able to put the same beautiful, ripe tomato on their table. That's our mission—to make healthy, locally grown food available to everyone."

"Through research, we've found that our fans value the quality and realness in our product, and we're committed to producing a beverage that has variety and fits their lifestyle," said Whitehouse. "We are equally excited to offer our consumers a way to extend this shared passion in our mission to deliver real foods to underserved communities."

Pure Leaf Introduces Tea & Lemonade
Just in time for summer, Pure Leaf announces the launch of its new flavor, Pure Leaf Tea & Lemonade. Pure Leaf Tea & Lemonade is made with the perfect balance of real brewed black tea and just the right amount of lemonade. The deliciously refreshing flavor is the perfect beverage for on-the-go or entertaining at home, and is now available in the Northeast.

Pure Leaf is available in 18.5-oz. single-serve bottles and a 59-oz. multi-serve chilled carafe. Additional Pure Leaf flavors available nationwide include Unsweetened Iced Tea, Sweetened Iced Tea, Extra Sweet Iced Tea, Iced Tea With Raspberry flavor, Iced Tea With Lemon (diet and regular), Iced Tea With Peach flavor (diet and regular), Not Too Sweet Peach flavor Tea and Not Too Sweet Honey flavor Green Tea.

To learn more about Pure Leaf, visit www.TheLoveOfLeaves.com.

About Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership
The Pepsi Lipton Tea partnership is a joint venture between Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo and London-based Unilever. The partnership includes a complete portfolio of Ready to Drink iced teas for every occasion, including Lipton Iced Tea, Pure Leaf Iced Tea and Brisk Iced Tea.

About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $66 billion in net revenue in 2013, 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 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.

At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our goal to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable growth in shareholder value. In practice, Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.

About Unilever North America
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong operations in more than 100 countries and sales in 190. Consumers buy 170 billion Unilever packs around the world every year, and our products are used over two billion times a day. In the United States and Canada the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Becel, Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Consort For Men, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Just for Me!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Magnum, Motions, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Promise, Q-tips, Ragu, Simple, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Soft & Beautiful, St. Ives, Suave, tcb, TIGI, TRESemmé, Vaseline, and Wish-Bone. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.

Our ambition is to double the size of our business, while reducing our overall environmental impact (including sourcing, consumer use and disposal). We are also committed to doing what we can to improve health, nutrition and hygiene, with goals to help more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being, as well as to source all our agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020. Supporting our three big goals are more than 50 time-based targets in the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan.

Unilever employs more than 13,000 people across North America—generating over $9 billion in sales in 2011. For more information visit www.unileverusa.com or www.unilever.ca.

About Wholesome Wave
Wholesome Wave, a national 501(c)3 organization, strives to create a vibrant, just and sustainable food system. By increasing affordability and access to fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables, we enable underserved community members to make healthier food choices. Our innovative initiatives improve health outcomes among low-income populations, generate additional revenue for small and mid-sized farm businesses and bolster local and regional economies.

Our initiatives are implemented nationwide, in 25 states and DC. Working in collaboration with more than 60 community-based partners, our impact can be seen at over 300 farmers markets, dozens of community health centers, hospital systems and food hubs. Each year, our initiatives benefit more than 40,000 underserved community members and their families, as well as thousands of farmers. For more information, visit www.wholesomewave.org.

About FOOD & WINE
FOOD & WINE is the ultimate authority on the best of what's new in food, drink, travel, design & entertaining. FOOD & WINE has an extensive social media following on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and Foursquare. FOOD & WINE includes a monthly magazine; digital editions on the iPad, Kindle Fire and Nook Color; a website, foodandwine.com; a books division; FWx, a digital brand and website for millennials; plus newsletters, clubs, events around the globe and a restaurant partnership, Chefs Club by FOOD & WINE.

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SOURCE Pure Leaf Iced Tea