Cabot announces winners of Reward Volunteers® in honor of national volunteer month

Second Round Winners Support Communities They Serve

Cabot, VT (APRIL 25, 2012) – The top performers for Round two of Cabot Creamery Cooperative’s Reward Volunteers^® program have been announced and the results are impressive as their combined efforts led to more than 1,600 hours of volunteer work completed for their local communities and non-profit organizations during the past month.

“We’re very pleased with the results of our Round 2 winners,” says Cabot Director of Marketing/Integrated Services, Jen Neary who worked with Chalo, Inc., a Vermont-based startup, to create the Reward Volunteers iPhone and computer widget. “More than 600 volunteer organizations are already benefiting from Reward Volunteers, and that’s in less than three months.  With continued focus, we hope to see that number double or triple as word about Reward Volunteers spreads.”

Reward Volunteers uses Facebook Connect to enable participants to log their volunteer activity and share the volunteer experience with friends via Facebook, email, and the app itself. The more hours logged, the more ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ received, and emails opened, the more likely participants are to win prizes each month, now until July 7, 2012, the weekend the final grand prizes are awarded.

Since the February 14 launch date, hundreds of volunteers have used Reward Volunteers to track the service that improves their communities. They’ve logged time working at food banks, women’s shelters, animal rescue centers and hundreds of other vital non-profits across the nation.

The top performers for the second month have been selected as March’s Reward Volunteers Winners of the Month.

“I still can’t believe I won,” said Zulay Olivo, a Communications Manager from New York City, staff member and former volunteer at Cross-Cultural Solutions, a non-profit organization best known as the leading organization in the field of international volunteering.  “I love how easy it is to use Reward Volunteers and how much it helps volunteers keep track of their impact on the community. 

Other second round winners include Reward Volunteers users from across the nation who’ve won Cabot Cheddar gift baskets, Green Mountain Coffee Roaster Breakfast Crates, King Arthur Flour Gift Certificates and a vacation for four to Liberty Hill Farm in Rochester, Vermont.

March Reward Volunteers Winners

$3,000
Zulay Olivo, New York - For Cross Cultural Solutions

Trip for four To Liberty Hill Farm
Ape B., Ohio - For Family & Community Services (Northeast Ohio)

Cabot Gift Basket
Kristen W., Vermont – For Community Friends Mentoring

King Arthur Flour Gift Certificates
Eric M., Virginia – For Spotsylvania Volunteer Fire Department
Jason C., Virginia – For Spotsylvania Volunteer Fire Department
Virginia B., Oregon – For Leedy Grange Hall #339
Laura H., New Jersey – For Red Paw Emergency Relief
Angela R., Vermont – For Everybody Wins! Vermont

Green Mountain Coffee Roaster Breakfast Crates
Robert C. Jr., Virginia – For Spotsylvania Volunteer Fire Department
Patti C., Texas – For the Don’t Forget To Feed Me Pet Food Pantry

A complete list of the organizations benefiting from the Reward Volunteers can be accessed at: http://www.cabotcheese.coop/orgs.html

NOTE TO EDITORS
To access the Reward Volunteers demo video, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC1H3UxrYtY

APRIL IS NATIONAL VOLUNTEER MONTH – To learn how to better support the non-profit of your choice, go to:  www.rewardvolunteers.coop, win prizes and cash for you and your non-profit.

ABOUT CABOT CREAMERY COOPERATIVE
Cabot Creamery Cooperative has been in continuous operation in Vermont since 1919, and makes a full line of cheeses, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese and butter. Widely known as makers of “The World’s Best Cheddar,” Cabot is owned by the 1200 dairy farm families of Agri-Mark, the Northeast’s premier dairy cooperative, with farms located throughout New England and upstate New York. For more information on Cabot, visit: http://www.cabotcheese.coop

United Nations Declares 2012 “International Year of Cooperatives”
2012 recognized by the UN as the International Year of Cooperatives.  As proud members of the Cooperative Community, Agri-Mark and its Cabot and McCadam brands support and promote the cooperative business model in recognition of the fact that cooperatives drive the economy, respond to social change, are resilient to global economic crisis and are serious, successful businesses creating jobs in all sectors.  To learn more about the 2012 International Year of Cooperatives, go to: 2012 IYC