USA TODAY Charitable Foundation Launches "Lead2Feed - World Hunger Leadership Challenge" with Lift a Life Foundation

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY Charitable Foundation and Lift a Life Foundation announced today the launch of the "Lead2Feed-World Hunger Leadership Challenge" in cooperation with Yum! Brands Foundation to encourage middle and high school students to hone their leadership skills through projects that focus on solving hunger, locally or globally. Students will use principles from Yum! Brands Chairman and CEO David Novak's best-selling book, TAKING PEOPLE WITH YOU: The Only Way to Make BIG Things Happen, and the  Lead2Feed curriculum provided by USA TODAY  Education to participate in the Lead2Feed – World Hunger Leadership Challenge contest. Yum! Brands Foundation will provide up to $500,000 in prize money grants to U.S. public charities engaged in hunger relief programs and supported by the winning student teams.

Lead2Feed is a teacher-led educational program that combines a standards-based curriculum on the topic of leadership along with the challenge of solving world hunger through service learning projects conducted by student teams. The curriculum focuses on self-awareness, working with others, setting big goals and identifying a national or local hunger-related charity to assist. More than 1,000 schools are expected to participate over the 2012-2013 school year. 

The 10-lesson Lead2Feed curriculum being used by middle and high school educators is based on Novak's best-selling book, where he shares the secrets of the unique "Taking People With You" leadership program he has developed and taught during his 15 years at Yum! Brands. All of his proceeds from the book go to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in conjunction with Yum! Brands' global hunger relief efforts.  Yum! Brands World Hunger Relief program drives awareness, funds and volunteerism for WFP and other hunger relief agencies and has become the world's largest private sector hunger relief effort, raising $115 million and providing 460 million meals to hungry people around the world.

"This is an opportunity to challenge students to think and act like leaders and work together to solve a real problem in our community and world," said David Novak, Chairman and CEO, Yum! Brands, Inc. "Students can learn about themselves, identify their skills and use those skills to work together as a team to get real results and directly impact the hunger issue. These leadership principles work in my own career and I believe they will help to develop future leaders for the next generation workforce."

"Many school districts and some states now require service learning or community service hours for high school graduation or as part of the middle school curriculum. This leadership program can fulfill social studies or government class service project requirements. Students will learn hunger statistics and more about the severity of the issue in the United States and around the world to help motivate participation," said Diane Barrett, President, USA TODAY Charitable Foundation.  "We are excited to participate with schools in this exciting program."

Up to $500,000 in prize money grants will be awarded in May 2013 to hunger relief public U.S. charities, supported by the winning student teams, following completion of the Lead2Feed-World Hunger Leadership Challenge. 

Teachers are invited to register for this free program at www.lead2feed.com. The program can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Tumblr through the links below:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Lead2Feed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeadtoFeed  
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/lead2feed
Tumblr: http://lead2feed.tumblr.com/

About World Hunger Relief

Yum! Brands annual fall World Hunger Relief effort is the world's largest private sector initiative designed to fight hunger.  The effort spans more than 120 countries, nearly 38,000 KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell restaurants and over one million employees, to raise awareness, volunteerism and funds for WFP and others. Since World Hunger Relief launched in 2007, the effort has raised $115 million and is helping to provide 460 million meals and save the lives of millions of people in remote corners of the world. Yum! also addresses hunger through its Harvest program which has donated nearly 150 million pounds of food, with a value of over $650 million, to those at risk of hunger in the U.S.

About Lift a Life Foundation

The Lift a Life Foundation was established in 1999 by David and Wendy Novak to help individuals and families in need reach their full potential. The Foundation helps alleviate the financial, physical, emotional, and educational burdens that hold people back from achieving their dreams and making a positive difference in society.  The Foundation focuses on creative partnerships that make a lasting impact in the primary areas of hunger relief, education, juvenile diabetes, the military as well as family and youth issues.  Since Lift a Life Foundation began, it has helped thousands of people in need through grants and programming support.  David Novak is Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, the world's largest restaurant company with nearly 38,000 KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut restaurants in over 120 countries and territories, and author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book, TAKING PEOPLE WITH YOU: The Only Way to Make BIG Things Happen. He has been recognized as "2012 CEO of the Year" by Chief Executive magazine, one of the world's "30 Best CEOs" by Barron's for the past two years, one of the "Top People in Business" by FORTUNE and one of the "100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World" by Harvard Business Review. He is also the recipient of the national 2008 Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship and is on the board of directors of the Yum! Brands Foundation and World Food Program USA. Wendy Novak is a lifelong philanthropist and volunteer, serving on the board of Directors for the Kentucky Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. 

About Yum! Brands Foundation and Yum! Brands

The Yum! Brands Foundation, the charitable arm of Yum! Brands, Inc., supports charities working primarily in the areas of hunger relief. Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the world's largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants with nearly 38,000 restaurants in more than 120 countries and territories. Yum! is ranked #213 on the Fortune 500 List and generated revenues of more than $12 billion in 2011. The Company's restaurant brands - KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell - are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories. Outside the United States, the Yum! Brands system opened approximately four new restaurants each day of the year, making it a leader in international retail development. The Company has consistently been recognized for its consistent shareholder returns, diversity leadership, community giving and recognition culture. 

About USA TODAY Charitable Foundation

The USA TODAY Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, supports and builds alliances that enhance innovative, instructional programs and community outreach by providing the resources to promote opportunities and inspire all. It welcomes participation in efforts to engage, enlighten and inspire today's students and educators by opening their classrooms to the real world. The Foundation seeks funding from other foundations, private companies and organizations to help provide educational programs for elementary, secondary schools, community colleges and/or programs in specific disciplines or curriculum areas. The Foundation works with interested parties to collaborate on the creation of an educational program that meets the mission and goals for respective companies or organizations.

About USA TODAY

USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, USA TODAY's mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation.  Through its unique visual storytelling, USA TODAY delivers high-quality and engaging content across print, digital, social and video platforms.  An innovator of news and information, USA TODAY reflects the pulse of the nation and serves as the host of the American conversation – today, tomorrow and for decades to follow. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of nearly 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 6.6 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than 15 million downloads on mobile devices. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120913/DC73541LOGO)

SOURCE USA TODAY