USA Track & Field New England hosts two championships every year and Munk Pack is stoked to announce that we are sponsoring the 2017 USATF-NE Indoor Track & Field Championship! The event will be held on Sunday, February 19 at Harvard University in Boston, MA and will feature a jam-packed day of awesome competitions between 600+ athletes.
The Munk Pack Team will be on-site handing out samples of our Oatmeal Fruit Squeeze snacks, so be sure to stop by and say hello if you’re in the area! Some highlights of the day to look forward to are the 5000 Meter, Distance Medley Relay, High Jump and our personal favorite, the Munk Pack High Performance 3K, where women will look to run 8:50 or faster and men will attempt to run 7:50 or faster. We’re excited to see Rolanda Bell, Chad Noelle, Ruben Sanca, Nicole Sifuentes and many of their top competitors vie for the fastest time.
Hope to see you there!
The Munk Pack Team is excited to announce that throughout May, 100% of profits on all Munk Pack products sold at Whole Foods Market will be donated to support microlending programs through Whole Planet Foundation. As a young startup ourselves, we want to help entrepreneurs around the world get access to the financial capital they need to succeed and grow their businesses.
Curious about what Whole Planet Foundation does? We sat down for a Q&A with them to explain it all.
Q: What is the Whole Planet Foundation?
A: Whole Planet Foundation was founded in 2005 to help alleviate global poverty by funding microcredit in communities that supply Whole Foods Market stores with products. Our focus is on women in the developing world, where a small loan can help very poor entrepreneurs build home-based businesses and lift themselves and their families out of poverty.
Q: How does microlending work?
A: Microcredit loans in the developing world are small–the average first loan is $184–and they do not require collateral or a contract. Small loans provide impoverished entrepreneurs with access to credit to create or expand businesses that can generate income and financial comfort for their families. Funds are repaid and reloaned again and again, remaining in the borrower’s community as additional loan capital.
Q: Who does Whole Planet Foundation’s microlending programs support?
A: We currently support 1,310,827 microentrepreneurs in 70 different countries around the world. To date, the nonprofit has authorized more than $69 million and disbursed $52 million through microlending partners worldwide.
Want to help us give back this month? Visit our store locator to find the Whole Foods Market closest to you.
Learn more and donate online at wholeplanetfoundation.org.
To celebrate Earth Day this year, the team decided to get outside and explore the streets of NYC for the Earth Day 5K Walk & Green Tour. Hosted by Earth Day Initiative New York, the event was coordinated so we not only got to see some stunning views, but at each stop along the route we learned about a different green group that helps better our planet.
It was very cool to see all the amazing work going on right in our backyard. Between composting at the LES Ecology Center, hearing about local wind power energy efforts at Chelsea Piers, and organic rooftop gardening at the Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project, it’s amazing how much time and effort is devoted to community based green projects in our city.
We enjoyed hearing others’ stories about how they celebrated earth month. Here are the winning entries from our Earth Month Contest!
This month I traveled to Beijing, China. While in a city that is the third most polluted city in the world, I reduced my carbon footprint by walking wherever I could and by using a refillable water bottle. Instead of having my sheets and towels replaced at the hotel, each day, I opted to reuse them knowing that millions of gallons of water are wasted on washing towels that have been only used once. Although these efforts may be small, I know the importance of my actions. While in China I also had the opportunity to travel 1 hour outside the city and hike the Great Wall for a day. Seeing the incredible architecture of the stone wall that goes on for mile, the blooming cherry blossoms and feeling the crisp cool-breezy air was beyond breathtaking. – Joanna King
To celebrate Earth Day my daughters, ages 15 and 18, and I decided to give back to our planet and our favorite local trail. It was clear upon arrival that it was overgrown and long overdue for some love and attention. We ended up spending 10 hours one day walking the trail picking up trash, clearing fallen tree limbs/branches and trimming intrusive brush, to help provide a clear path for hikers. Beautiful day giving back and making memories with my girls! – Michelle Redcay
Climbing Karma. Rock Climbing is hard. Like, really hard. My friends and I watch climbing videos of our favorites pros climbing hard routes and we get super stoked and go out like, “Dude, yes. We’re so strong! Let’s go crush everything!” But as previously stated…climbing is hard and pulling your full body weight up the side of a cliff with your fingertips near impossible. That’s where climbing karma comes in. It works like this: Areas that have gorgeous rocks to climb are often frequented by climbers, hikers, and adventure seekers who sometimes drop wrappers, bottles or other garbage. This makes areas look bad, grow bad and it’s really a bummer. Taking a small bag with us on trips and picking up this garbage, then taking it to the nearest appropriate area gives us climbing karma and helps us climb harder. It’s such a small percentage of life to pick up a can or two…but this is our home. This is our sport. Does the Karma thing actually work? Maybe. If not though, I still want the outdoors to keep it’s natural beauty. I’ll still keep taking my bag out and contribute my small one percent. – Shane Collins
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We’re thrilled that April is Earth Month–a more forward reminder for us all to keep giving back to our beautiful planet. So, in honor of Earth Month and our Share One Percent Contest, we’re sharing how we plan to help the planet a little more this month!
Week One:
Eat only non-GMO foods–helping prevent pesticide and chemical toxicity and invasive GMO new-specie spread, while helping biodiversity, which is critical in all ecosystems and to the sustainability of all species and put at risk by GMOs.
Week Three:
Save water. Take 3-minute showers–every two minutes saved on a shower can conserve more than ten gallons of water. And don’t rinse dishes before putting in dishwasher–saving up to 20 gallons of water each load.
Week Two:
Save energy. No TV, shut off all electronic devices in evening and read a book instead. Wash clothes with cold water, rather than hot to save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
Week Four:
Save paper. American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper every year, equal to 175 pounds per office worker.Help halve this by setting your printer’s default option to print double-sided. Cut down on junk mail, sign up to pay all bills online and eliminate paper bank statements.
For more ideas on how to give back to our planet for Earth Month see
50WaystoHelp.com.
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