Teacher Appreciation Week 2019

We are excited to announce our 2nd annual Teacher Appreciation Program with First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise focused on equal access to quality education for kids in need, kicked off today – the first day of Teacher Appreciation Week! We’ve created special educational care packages for educators serving children in low-income communities that celebrate two of our favorite things… chocolate and education.

“We are thrilled to honor another fantastic group of teachers this year in partnership with First Book and share the fascinating story of how chocolate has impacted global history,” said Gail Broadright, Director of Sponsorships and Family Properties, Mars Wrigley Confectionery. “By partnering with First Book for the second year in a row, we are able to serve classrooms that might not have the resources to access historical sites like Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Colonial Williamsburg, The National Archives, or the Smithsonian Institute. Giving back to these schools and communities is a major step in fulfilling the Mars family’s long-standing legacy in support of the mission of education.”

The program will gift over 1,200 educators in and around Chicago, IL, Henderson, NV, Hackettstown, NJ, Newark, NJ and Washington DC who serve the students and teachers where Mars Wrigley Confectionery does business. The educators in the First Book network will receive a copy of Great Moments in World History: Global Stories Where Chocolate Sparked Discovery, Innovation, and Imagination! – a STEM-based curriculum that was published by National Geographic Books in partnership with AMERICAN HERITAGE^® Chocolate, food historians and leading foodways experts from historical sites across North America. Created for students in the 4th to 8th grade, this guide shares the sweet story of chocolate’s rich history with lesson plans for math, science, language arts and social studies. A digital free download of the guide can be found here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/pdf/chocolate-ed-guide.pdf

Educators will also receive product samples of AMERICAN HERITAGE^® Chocolate and a promotion code, which can be used to purchase additional books and resources on the First Book Marketplace, First Book’s award-winning e-commerce site. First Book will distribute over 9,000 books as part of this program.

This activation is part of a larger partnership with First Book to distribute over 15,000 books to educators and schools and programs serving children in need this year. Earlier this year, we donated over 3,500 books through the First Book network on behalf of 18 historic site partners in North America. We also plan to host a back-to-school “Reading Celebration” for local students in Henderson, NV, where AMERICAN HERITAGE® Chocolate is made, in the fall of 2019.