IN THE NEWS Organics Unlimited Introduces The GROW Foundation - April 21, 2005 Organics Unlimited of San Diego has announced the formation of The GROW Foundation - Giving Resources and Opportunities to Workers.  The GROW Foundation is an international outreach initiative with a mission of ensuring that field workers who grow the organic produce sold through the company receive fair wages and better living standards. "GROW is really an extension of how we have always worked with our growers," says Organics Unlimited's President, Mayra Velazquez de Leon.  "We feel a responsibility to improve the lives of workers and develop social programs in their surrounding communities." While GROW was started through funding directly from Organics Unlimited and its owners, the program will be sustained through a small per box surcharge on product that is marked with the GROW label.  These monies are then given directly to charitable organizations through a partnership with The International Community Foundation (www.icfdn.org), which "seeks to increase charitable giving and volunteerism across U.S. borders to benefit overseas nonprofit organizations and communities... primarily in Mexico." Funds will go to programs where Organics Unlimited works with the growers and buys their tropical fruits. "As a produce distribution organization that deals only in organic tropical fruit, we feel a vital need for providing better living conditions for workers who are dedicated to the more complex farming processes required by organic production," says Velazquez de Leon.  "These workers are an integral part of maintaining an important supply of tropical organic fruit to the US, and maintaining the quality of produce that we require." GROW is a program of Organics Unlimited, a San Diego based distributor of organic tropical fruits from Mexico and South America.  << Return to In the News