Reward Volunteers 3.0 Grand Prize Winners Announced -- Including Caribbean Cruise!

CABOT, Vt., July 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Cabot Creamery Cooperative, the New England and upstate New York farm-family owned dairy cooperative widely known as the maker's of the "World's Best Cheddar," is announcing the Grand Prize winners of Reward Volunteers 3.0. This comes at the end of the most recent phase of Reward Volunteers, which began on January 28 of this year. Grand Prizes include fabulous vacation packages, big cash prizes, super-sized Cabot Farm Family Gift Baskets, Vermont Ski Passes, and a Caribbean Cruise for two.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120213/MM52737LOGO )

Reward Volunteers enables individuals and organizations to track the time they spend volunteering in their communities via a free computer widget and easy-to-use iPhone mobile app. At the end of each month, Cabot rewards them for their hard work with a variety of prizes. Reward Volunteers 3.0, now in its third phase, has awarded hundreds of amazing prizes to hard-working, selfless volunteers across the country. Reward Volunteers 4.0 is set to launch on August 14, and will include even more amazing prizes.

The Big Grand Prize Winner, Heather Lindner, a volunteer at Philadelphia's Red Paw Emergency Relief Team, will join dozens of other volunteers aboard the Cabot Community Celebrity Cruise. She, along with a guest, will be treated to an all-expenses-paid, six-day, seven-night, Southern Caribbean cruise aboard the Celebrity Cruise SUMMIT.

"As a volunteer, you never expect anything in return, and I still cannot believe I won," says Heather. "The Reward Volunteers app is a great way to showcase your nonprofit through social media by showing your friends and contacts the work you are doing. I recommend this app to all of our volunteers and my friends that volunteer, and I am extremely excited to be joining other volunteers on a Caribbean cruise in January."

"We are extremely thrilled with the participation and positive feedback we received in the third round of Reward Volunteers," says Cabot Director of Marketing & Integrated Services, Jen Neary. "Since January, an incredible 31,357 hours were logged by 662 selfless volunteers, to the benefit of 802 organizations. I want to say thank you to everyone who participated in the program, and congratulations to all of our big winners. We can't wait for Reward Volunteers 4.0, launching August 14."

Hours were tallied at the end of each month, and prizes were awarded to dozens of well deserving volunteers, including: cash for individuals and organizations; vacation packages to Liberty Hill Farm, Couture's Farm, Smugglers Notch, Emergo Farms, Mountain View Inn, and Escobar's Inn; Cabot Cheddar Gift Baskets; King Arthur Flour gift cards; National Cooperative Grocers Association gift cards; Keurig Coffee Machines with a year supply of Green Mountain Coffee; Farm Families Gift Baskets; shoes from Dansko; and much more. For a full list of prizes, visit: www.rewardvolunteers.coop/prizes

"It was great fun to find out I had won a vacation to Smugglers Notch in Vermont," says Jane Israel, a volunteer at the Eastern Maine Medical Center. "Since retiring, I have volunteered quite a bit with the Chaplain Services at our medical center, and recorded my time on Rewards Volunteers. While I certainly don't expect a reward for doing 'something good,' I will still enjoy my stay in Vermont. Thanks for making this App available. It's a great way to spread the word about volunteering."

Reward Volunteers was conceived and created by Cabot Creamery Cooperative, and is sponsored by AARP Create the Good, All for Good, Marriott, Co+op Stronger Together, Hope for Women, Points of Light, and Volunteer Spot.

For more information on Rewards Volunteers 3.0, visit www.rewardvolunteers.coop

GRAND PRIZE WINNERS

Southern Caribbean Cruise for Two as part of the Cabot Community Celebrity Cruise
Heather Lindner, Pennsylvania - Red Paw Emergency Relief Team

$1,500 Prize for Non-Profit Organization
Brown Elementary, PTA - California

$1,000 Prize for RV User + Farm Families Gift Basket
Jackie M., New Jersey – Antler Ridge Wildlife Sanctuary

Liberty Hill Farm Vacation + $100 King Arthur Flour Gift Card
Susie T., New Mexico – Soldiers' Angels

Couture's Farm Vacation + Farm Families Gift Basket
Maria L., Florida – Imagine Charter School at Weston

Vermont Vacation at Smugglers Notch + Farm Families Gift Basket
Jane Israel, Maine – Eastern Maine Medical Center

Worthern Dairy Farm Uniquely Music CD + Foster Brothers Farm Moo Doo Compost and shirt + Carole Robbins Framed Painting + Farm Families Gift Basket
Janet R., Florida – G.R.E.A.T. Rescue of NE Florida

Escobar's Inn Stay + National Cooperative Grocers Association $100 Gift Card
Joanne J., New Jersey – Community FoodBank of New Jersey, Southern Branch

Ski Vermont Passes for 2013-2014 Season
Jolyne B.R., California – OATH
Melissa R., New Hampshire – Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains
Becky E., California – Barks of Love Animal Rescue
Robin K., Ohio – Soldiers' Angels
Heidie H., Wisconsin - USO of Wisconsin
Charles G., California – 8^th District PTA
Kate C., New Hampshire – Monadnock Humane Society
Amanda H.H., Vermont – Junior League of Champlain Valley

$75 Cabot Cheese Gift Basket
Trish D., New Hampshire – Salem Family Resources – Success By 6
Van A., New Hampshire – UNH Cooperative Extension – Grafton County
Cheryl S., Wisconsin
Heather C., Illinois – Critter Camp Exotic Pet Sanctuary
Carol B., Virginia

A complete list of the organizations benefiting from the Reward Volunteers can be accessed at: http://www.cabotcheese.coop/orgs.html

ABOUT CABOT CREAMERY COOPERATIVE

Cabot Creamery Cooperative has been in continuous operation in Vermont since 1919, and makes a full line of cheeses, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese and butter. Widely known as makers of "The World's Best Cheddar," Cabot is owned by the 1200 dairy farm families of Agri-Mark, the Northeast's premier dairy cooperative, with farms located throughout New England and upstate New York. For more information on Cabot, visit: http://www.cabotcheese.coop

Cabot Creamery Cooperative is the world's first cheese maker and dairy cooperative to achieve B Corporation Certification, a validation of its attention to environmental and social impacts on stakeholders

Contact: Bob Schiers
(888) 214.9444 or [email protected]

SOURCE Cabot Creamery Cooperative