Comfort, Joy, and Chocolate Donations

Happy B Corp month! This March we are excited to be joining the global community of more than 3,700 businesses celebrating what it means to be using business as a force for good. March also marks one-year since the global pandemic first hit our local community. The past 12 months have shown, if we work together towards a greater good, that amazing things can happen.

As a certified B Corporation®, caring for our community (and our environment) is rooted in our vision and we proudly to contribute approximately 7-10% of our pre-tax profits to local non-profit organizations and programs on an annual basis. Whether it’s a gourmet chocolate gift basket that is used to raise money for a local organization or small individually wrapped chocolates offered as a thank you to non-profit donors, it’s remarkable how memorable and impactful chocolate donations can be.

Giving a piece of chocolate instantly bring a smile to someone’s face or provides them with a moment of comfort and joy, even during a pandemic. Over the past year, 17,408 pieces of gourmet chocolate were donated to the heroic essential workers that helped others get through these unprecedented times. Here are just a few of the local organizations that we donated to:

Our front-line healthcare workers at the University of Vermont Medical Center have put their lives on the line caring for the people in our community. To thank them for their hard work and dedication we surprised different departments with random deliveries of chocolate throughout the year. Each time, the sweet treats were received with overwhelming appreciation. In total, over 180 pounds of chocolate were donated to our local healthcare workers!

When the global pandemic hit, restaurants were forced to shut down without much notice, and hundreds of families in our local community were left unemployed. The team at Skinny Pancake stepped up and launched ShiftMeals, a program that not only provides nutritious meals to individuals impacted by the pandemic, but also works to provide a source of income for Vermont restaurants, farmers, and food producers. With our chocolate donation, ShiftMeals was able to offer a sweet moment of comfort and joy to those that were going through hard times.

When schools reopened in August of 2020, there were a lot of unknowns. Schools had to adapt and find new ways to safely accommodate teaching children while adhering to social distancing and other COVID requirements. This daunting task required immense work, planning, and cooperation of many. To help provide the educators, paraprofessionals, school administrators, support staff, and custodians with a moment of sweet serenity during this time of stress and anxiety (and to thank them for their hard work) we surprised them with boxes filled with organic dark chocolate hearts.  In total, 125 pounds of chocolates were donated to teachers in Shelburne, Burlington, Richmond, Jericho, Williston, and South Burlington!

All in all, we are proud to have donated over 624 pounds of chocolate to essential workers over the past year. That’s 17,408 individual extraordinary chocolate moments we delivered to lift the spirits of our community during hard times. In doing so, we hope that these random acts of chocolate kindness inspire you to help where you can. For when we work together and show our appreciation and support for one another, we can be the positive change we wish to see in the world.