Indulge In A Good Cause: Seattle Chocolates Provides Healthy Meals To Those In Need

Socially conscious chocolate lovers, rejoice: when you buy something sweet from Seattle Chocolates, you'll also gift a healthy meal to a hungry family. 

Committed to fighting hunger in local American communities, Jean Thompson, owner and CEO of the cocoa purveyor first introduced the jcoco chocolates line in late 2012 with the focus of feeding hungry families. For each jcoco bar sold, Seattle Chocolates donates a serving of fresh healthy food to those in need.

Thompson explained that since "chocolate is America's favorite flavor and snack, we have the ability to give back in a huge way by engaging our customers, people who were buying chocolate every day anyway."

The company's Every Chocolate Gives campaign was created to raise awareness and generate donations to local food banks. Through Tuesday, December 1, Seattle Chocolates will double its donations. At the time of publication of this article, more than 657,000 servings of fresh, healthy food has been given to families in need. 

This year, their goal is to 1 million servings by December 31. If you're not a chocolate person, that's OK — just use the #chocolategives hashtag on Twitter, and they'll donate a meal for every tweet. 

The company is working with the Greater Boston Food Bank, the SF-Marin Food Bank, Northwest Harvest, and the Food Bank For New York City.

Margarette Purvis, President and CEO of Food Bank For New York City, spoke of the urgent need for initiatives such as this one, saying, "In New York City alone, one in five people rely on soup kitchens and food pantries. We depend greatly on generous partners like Seattle Chocolates, who both donate and help raise awareness through campaigns like every chocolate gives."

Varieties include PB&J dark chocolate truffle bar, Devil's Delight dark chocolate truffle bar with salted pretzel pieces, spicy and citrusy jcoco cayenne veracruz orange bar in white chocolate, the jcoco edamame sea salt milk chocolate bar, and the jcoco agave quinoa sesame bar in milk chocolate.

There are also a lot of fun holiday varieties, like egg nog, Mom's hot cocoa, Christmas cookie, and candy cane crunch.  

The chocolate is responsibly grown and produced in small batches, without preservatives, additives, or extenders.