Walgreens and Unilever Team Up with ME to WE for Second Year of Give H2OPE to Others

DEERFIELD, Ill., Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Walgreens and Unilever are again joining forces with social enterprise ME to WE to empower Walgreens customers to help make a life-changing difference. Customers can help provide developing communities in Africa with access to clean water through a simple store purchase and the program Give H2OPE to Others (#GiveH2OPE).

From July 31 through Aug. 27, 2016, a donation will be made for customers who purchase select Unilever TRESemmé®, Suave®, Caress® or AXE® products at participating Walgreens stores. This donation will help provide five gallons of clean water to a family in a developing community. In addition, customers purchasing two or more select Unilever products at Walgreens will help provide 15 gallons of clean water*. Through these purchases, Walgreens and Unilever, with the help of ME to WE – a social enterprise that creates socially conscious products and experiences that allow people to do good through their everyday choices – hope to provide the Kenyan village of Esinoni with access to clean water through the construction of a borehole, a 200-meter deep well.

"Walgreens today continues a long-standing commitment of meaningful global corporate citizenship focused on making an impact in the community, environment, workplace and marketplace," said Alex Gourlay, co-chief operating officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. "Our participation in Give H2OPE to Others for a second year reflects this mission of making it easy for our customers to take part and help make a difference around the world."

Give H2OPE to Others was designed to show that even the smallest steps can have a large-scale social impact – including everyday purchases. The clean water supplied from these purchases will help reduce the incidence of waterborne disease and illness to families and communities in rural Kenya. It will also help to eliminate the 30 kilometers (or approximately 6 hours) per day women and children in the region typically travel to collect water – allowing children to spend more time in the classroom and giving women the opportunity to care for their children or work.

"At Unilever, we find brands that are integrating sustainable living into their core purpose are driving success," said Todd Tillemans, corporate EVP, president customer development, Unilever. "Moving into the second year of this partnership is further proof that small actions, like making a simple purchase, can add up to a big difference. We are proud to help provide access to clean drinking water and believe that together we can create a bright future."

Last year, Walgreens and Unilever helped donate more than 17.5 million gallons of clean water to the rural Kenyan village of Kipsongol. The donation was made through the construction of a borehole that helped give approximately 2,000 community members, including more than 800 children, access to 31,000 gallons of clean water every day. Providing access to this basic resource has had a ripple effect on the community, helping propel the village's social and economic progress for a lifetime.

"Thanks to ME to WE's partnership with Walgreens and Unilever, we've been able to make a tremendous impact in developing communities around the world by providing thousands of people with access to clean water," said Craig Kielburger, co-founder of ME to WE. "Through Give H2OPE to Others, thousands of more lives will be changed, unlocking opportunities that will empower families to break the cycle of poverty."

All ME to WE products come with a Track Your Impact code for buyers to track exactly where and how their purchase has made an impact in a partner community. Walgreens customers can learn more about the difference their purchases have made by entering the UPC code on the back of the each TRESemmé®, Suave®, Caress® or AXE® product package at www.walgreens.com/trackyourimpact.

For more information on the program, visit www.walgreens.com/trackyourimpact.

* Between 7/31/16 and 8/27/16, for every purchase of one Suave®, TRESemmé®, Axe® or Caress® product at Walgreens and Duane Reade, six cents (equal to 5 gallons) will be donated to ME to WE's charitable partner, WE Charity, or for every purchase of two or more of the these products, eighteen cents (equal to 15 gallons) will be donated. Total donation up to $175,000.  For more information about ME to WE or WE CharityME to WE, visit www.we.org.  Purchases are not tax deductible. Not valid in Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands.

About Walgreens

Walgreens (www.walgreens.com), one of the nation's largest drugstore chains, is included in the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA), the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise. More than 8 million customers interact with Walgreens each day in communities across America, using the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice. Walgreens operates 8,173 drugstores with a presence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Walgreens digital business includes Walgreens.com, drugstore.com, Beauty.com and VisionDirect.com. More than 400 Walgreens stores offer Healthcare Clinic or other provider retail clinic services.

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About Unilever United States, Inc.

Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Food, Refreshments, Home and Personal Care products with sales in more than 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. In the United States, the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Caress, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Fruttare, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Promise, Q-tips, Simple, St. Ives, Suave, Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, TIGI, TONI&GUY Hair Meet Wardrobe, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.

Unilever employs approximately 8,000 people in the United States – generating more than $8.5 billion in sales in 2015.

The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan commits to:

• Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being by 2020.
• Halving the environmental impact of our products by 2030.
• Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.

Unilever ranked number one in its sector on the 2015 Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

The entire Unilever global factory network, as well as its U.S. non-manufacturing facilities, have achieved zero non-hazardous waste to landfill status.

For more information on Unilever U.S. and its brands visit: www.unileverusa.com

To connect with Unilever U.S. via Facebook visit: www.facebook.com/unileverusa

To connect with Unilever U.S. via Twitter follow: @unileverusa

About ME to WE

ME to WE Social Enterprise creates socially conscious products and experiences that allow people to do good through their everyday choices. These products and services include handmade ME to WE artisans accessories, ME to WE trips and ME to We leadership programming. Half of all ME to WE profits are donated to support WE Charity, while the other half is reinvested to grow the mission of the social enterprise. ME to WE is a fully transparent model backed by its Track Your Impact promise. The positive impact of products and experiences can be traced a WE Villages partner community where it was delivered. ME to WE is part of WE, a movement that brings people together and gives them the tools to change the world, empowering them to make a difference at home and globally.

Learn more at metowe.com

Contact: Alyssa Bronikowski  
(847) 315-8144

SOURCE ME to WE

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