Oct 30 2009
Anything Brands Online, Inc (PINKSHEETS: ANYT) announced today that its subsidiary, Anything Green OnLine (AGO), signed a Letter of Understanding with My Place, a not-for-profit organization located in Hendersonville, NC, whose mission is to provide housing and positive youth development to homeless and at-risk youth between the ages of 16 and 24 to develop a produce business to raise funds, a portion of which will be donated to My Place.
My Place, Inc. was founded by Venerable Pannavati Bhikkhuni, a Buddhist Nun offering services to homeless and at-risk youth in the Hendersonville, North Carolina area.
My Place, as part of its Youth Entrepreneur Enterprises component, refers potential customers to Anything Green Online to purchase produce boxes to be delivered to a convenient location for pickup. Also, My Place invites local supermarkets to make fresh produce from Anything Green Online available in their stores to be sold under the "My Place" label. Using students and their families nationwide as a marketing base, My Place is collecting signatures from consumers requesting their local supermarket to carry the "My Place" label in their stores. Within the first 3 days, over 1,000 local signatures have been collected. My Place will further increase market awareness by making direct contact with 200 media outlets throughout the US and contact 100 service providers to homeless students in 50 cities to encourage them to participate in the program. These organizations and their constituents would become recipients of a portion of the proceeds from sales in their respective communities.
It was stated by Tim Norton, a senior executive of the company with responsibility for the Anything Brands Online Operation, "In early 2009, with the encouragement of several socially oriented organizations and with the direct participation of Marc Schechtman, a pioneering force in Organic Foods, the project embarked on a nationwide effort designed to improve the lives of less fortunate citizens beginning with its pilot model in North Carolina. AGO identified marketing opportunities for fresh produce that offer added value to consumers who understand the benefits of fruits and vegetables for a healthy diet and lifestyle. With the influence of an organization such as My Place, AGO will be well positioned to meet the revenue goal of $360M in the next 18 months."
"I see this as a perfect demonstration model for struggling communities," added Ven. Pannavati. "The collaboration between the business and social services sectors to meet the needs of our citizenry is the wave of the future. Actually, it is now."
Source:
Anything Brands Online, Inc.