Yum! Recognizes Global Volunteers with Huge Heart Champion Awards

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky, October 11, 2013 /3BL Media/ – Yum! Brands, the world's leading restaurant company today began awarding more than $250,000 in grants to qualifying non-profit agencies capping-off the inaugural year of the Hunger to Hope Volunteer Challenge.

Last year, Yum! launched the volunteer challenge to encourage the company’s 1.5 million associates to give back to the communities in which they live and work through service. The top 20 participating teams who displayed an outstanding demonstration of making a lasting local impact were awarded with grants for the agencies with whom they volunteered. The top ten teams will receive $20,000 grants for their organizations and the top runners-up will receive $5,000 grants for their organizations.

“As a company with a Huge Heart, we take great pride in giving back to our communities,” said David Novak, Yum! Chairman and CEO. “I’m incredibly proud of the dedication that our team members made to volunteerism this year. Also, I’m honored to be able to award grants to more than 20 of the organizations we volunteered with. Hopefully, this money will help them to make an even bigger impact in their communities.”

The Hunger to Hope volunteerism program builds on the company’s legacy of supporting hunger relief initiatives. To date, Yum! has raised nearly $150 million for the World Food Program and other hunger relief organizations, helping to provide nearly 600 million meals and impact the lives of millions of people in remote, underserved corners of the world.

In the last seven years, the World Hunger Relief initiative has resulted in millions of hours of volunteerism. Nearly 25,000 hours of volunteer hours were tracked for this year’s global challenge. Twenty countries participated with programs ranging from food drives in Russia to cooking challenges in the United States and even a fasting event coordinated through social media in Thailand.

For a full list of winning teams, their stories and more information on Yum!’s hunger relief efforts and volunteerism visit www.hungertohope.com.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, has nearly 40,000 restaurants in more than 130 countries and territories. Yum! is ranked #201 on the Fortune 500 List with revenues of over $13 billion in 2012 and in 2013 was named among the top 100 Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. The Company’s restaurant brands - KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell - are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories. Outside the United States, the Yum! Brands system opened over five new restaurants per day, making it a leader in international retail development.