Social Goodness: Wrapping up 2014!

Giving at Honest is a year-round occasion, so the holiday season truly resonates with our guiding spirit! In this month of warmth and wonder, there was no greater joy for the Honest office than spreading tidings of health and happiness to families and children across the country that need it the most. Discovering new partners and working with those we’ve known for a long time in our mission towards a more sustainable future, we’re fortunate enough to understand firsthand that some of the best gifts in life just can't be wrapped!

This December, we proudly partnered with FoodCorps, a nationwide team of AmeriCorps leaders, to shape healthier food environments and give children an enduring relationship with real food to lead longer, more productive lives. (If you’re an Honest Bundle Subscriber, you had your introduction to our new Social Goodness partner with your holiday surprise gift!) With our $125,000 investment in FoodCorps, we’re cooking up lasting change to staff 15 new schools with a service member and put 185 community volunteers to work; harvest more than 1,600 pounds of fresh produce; build and revitalize 25 school gardens; organize 50 cafeteria taste tests; and teach 1,475 food lessons to educate 4,000 children throughout the US! Of course, as we often say at Honest, we couldn’t have done this without you--with your support of #GivingTuesday on social media and our #Honestgoodness recipes to inspire healthy cooking with kids, we contributed an additional $24,000 to educate 1,000 more children about the benefits of fresh, natural food!

We also got to see firsthand how FoodCorps works in classrooms and cafeterias nationwide with our very own lesson in the Honest Santa Monica headquarters. With the dedicated enthusiasm of two FoodCorps members to guide us, the Honest office created two tasty treats just like the ones kids will be creating with your support: a winter spice mix sachet great for hot seasonal sipping (teas, ciders, toddies, and more) and honey sesame seed snacks perfect for popping.

Along the way, we learned more about how FoodCorps works with local organizations to support their mission, educates kids about seasonal food available in their area, and encourages them to get past the “Yuck!” factor.  We’re proud to support the next generation of eaters as they become more informed, inspired, and healthier than ever!

We couldn’t wrap up the holiday season without our annual gift wrapping extravaganza with Baby2Baby, our Social Goodness partner supporting at-risk families in the LA area with essential products to ensure their children’s well-being. With our Buy One, Give One partnership, we work with Baby2Baby all year, donating thousands of Honest products and 500 cribs to promote safer sleeping for those in need all year long, but it means so much to play Santa to little boys and girls and give them the clothes, shoes, books, and toys they asked for this year.

While we had a festive time with some serious gift wrapping skills on display--no package or plush was too difficult for us to take on--we also learned more about some of the families that receive our support throughout the year. Once our wrap stars were done, the presents went to Baby2Baby’s Holiday Gifting Event that weekend. The joy in that room reminded us that having quality time to celebrate with your loved ones and let kids be kids is also an essential contribution to the development of healthier, happier families.

Even as we look to the year ahead in Social Goodness, we’ve already laid the groundwork for a brighter future. By 2020, there will be 1.4 million jobs in technology, yet computer science still isn’t part of the core curriculum in every school. For Computer Science Education Week, The Honest Company was proud to partner with Code.org and make a virtual appearance at The White House in support of an Hour of Code, a global computer science education initiative that aims to get kids to try 1 hour of coding, ultimately inspiring 100 million students from around the world to participate. Coding--which creates the framework for all of our daily digital engagements--is a valuable skill for kids today, but it’s even more important for girls to get access and skills early: Only 18% of computer science students are female and during last year’s Hour of Code, more girls participated in computer science than in the last 70 years!

Our founder, Honest Jessica, was honored to be (virtually) present at The White House for a surprise appearance to kick off the week, speaking to kids attending a Technology Fair and inspiring girls to pursue future careers in technology. Later in the week, Jessica also got the chance to have a coding lesson live-streamed into classrooms nationwide via Google on Air with the great guidance of Honest Steffen, one of our resident coding experts. Partnering with Code.org, we’re hoping to reach the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs, and every child inspired to change the world with the power of technology in their hands!

It’s been an incredible 2014 for Social Goodness and we can’t wait to see what’s ahead. Each and every one of those 365 days, we’re inspired to work towards a more Honest world, knowing that you’re supporting us every step of the way. We couldn’t be more grateful, so we’ll keep it simple: Thank you!