From backing sporting initiatives to supporting charitable causes, we are constantly aiming to serve and engage with our local communities.
Encouraging active lives Several PepsiCo brands are involved in encouraging people to lead active lives.
In 2005, as part of the Thirst for Football campaign, Pepsi established soccer schools and the England Manager Masterclass. This scheme saw England players and coaches sharing their expertise with young footballers and amateur coaches.
Walkers gave away over two million Walk-o-meters with the Get Britain Walking campaign in 2004 to encourage people to reach the government's recommended 30 minutes of physical activity every day.
In Brazil, Citrosuco, which supplies orange juice to Tropicana, backs a programme called Bom de Bola, which uses football to promote education and physical health. Children receive professional coaching with the understanding that they commit to improving their school attendance and grades. Several graduates of the initiative now play professionally for leading clubs in Brazil.
We also support community initiatives. In 2007, Walkers funded two Parks for Life in Leicester and Reading. These parks are state-of-the-art family playgrounds with sports areas, a climbing zone and an i.play, an electronic play device intended to improve fitness, co-ordination and agility.
Supporting education
PepsiCo is committed to supporting education. There are currently over 100 volunteers from PepsiCo who regularly go into their local schools as Reading Buddies, reading books with the pupils so that the children can enjoy the benefits of literacy in later life. Walkers has also donated thousands of pounds worth of books as part of its Books for Schools campaign.
School Partnerships is a nationwide project with a regional focus. Each of our sites in the UK is partnered with schools in the area to improve their environment so that children have a safe, comfortable place to learn and play. Activities that PepsiCo volunteers take part in range from fundraising, painting classrooms, digging gardens to supporting school fetes.PepsiCo workers are also involved in their local schools as school governors. This scheme serves to help fill the shortage of school governors and provides our employees with a unique opportunity to strengthen existing skills and develop new ones.
It also gives them the opportunity to have a positive impact on the running of a school, as well as giving them the chance to work with a wide range of people from different backgrounds, including pupils, parents, teachers and fellow governors.
Adult education is just as important as working with the nation's children. A Learning Centre set up at the Walkers plant in Peterlee helps PepsiCo employees and other local adults with literacy, language and numeracy skills, and is a regional test centre for adult learning.
Supporting personal development
We believe that education does not stop at the classroom. That is why we support several personal development programmes, both abroad and in the UK.
Projeto Pescar, funded by Citrosuco, targets children from deprived or vulnerable backgrounds in Brazil and provides them with coaching, training and personal development. Citrosuco funds four separate Pescar projects and provides a full-time member of staff for each, plus a classroom and materials. Projeto Pescar is part of a national charitable foundation and affiliated to the Prince of Wales' International Business Leaders' Forum.
At our plant in Peterlee, we have supported the Durham Constabulary's WISE Drive initiative. This scheme provides an in-depth driving education for youths in the area in reach of their driving licence. WISE Drive tackles the problem of dangerous driving and helps to establish positive attitudes to road-safety among young drivers.
The Leicester plant participates in a programme, run by Leicestershire Cares, aimed at getting recently-released offenders back on their feet. The ex- offender workplace mentoring provides a short placement where participants shadow current employees, giving them valuable work experience.
Charitable support
We have raised over £2.5m for Comic Relief since 2003 through Walkers campaigns including the WalkEARS giveaway and limited edition lines of mixed-up flavours.
At PepsiCo, we also run a Payroll Giving scheme, which is an easy and tax-effective way for our employees to give money to a chosen charity. An agreed set amount is deducted from an employee's gross salary and sent to an approved payroll-giving agency, which in turn pays it directly to the employee's chosen charity. PepsiCo then donates a further 10% of the employee's donation.
Did you know...
... Tropicana sponsored Britain's Biggest All Day Breakfast. On 12th March 2004, hundreds of thousands of people nationwide had breakfast together to raise around £250,000 for Cancer Research UK.
... Pepsi has supported international youth and grass-roots football in England and Scotland since the 1970s.
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