Glee Gum wins Green America’s people and planet award

VERVE, INC., the producer of Glee Gum and Make Your Own Candy Kits, won a Summer 2014 People & Planet Award from Green America, and will spend the prize money on a fall gift to teachers.
VERVE, INC., the producer of Glee Gum and Make Your Own Candy Kits, won a Summer 2014 People & Planet Award from Green America, and will spend the prize money on a fall gift to teachers.

PROVIDENCE – Verve, Inc., the producer of Glee Gum and Make Your Own Candy Kits, won a Summer 2014 People & Planet Award from Green America, and will spend prize money on a fall gift to teachers.
The company wants public school teachers to apply for free educational kits to make natural chewing gum, chocolate or gummies in their classrooms.
Green America, a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., grants the People & Planet Award to businesses that promote a “green” economy, such as a bottom line that includes protecting workers, communities and the environment.
Glee Gum received a $5,000 cash prize as a Summer 2014 People & Planet Award winner.
Verve president Deborah Schimberg said in a statement released Thursday that the company is honored to receive the award.
“We look forward to launching the ‘kits-for-classes’ program, and hope that it encourages more students to think about where goods come from and how natural resources can be used responsibly,” she said.
Verve, Inc. started after Schimberg, a former teacher, learned about the sustainable harvest of the tree sap chicle on a 1992 visit to Guatemala.
Back at home, Schimberg and her children experimented at making their own chewing gum with chicle, developing a kit based on the results. The success of the Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit led to Verve’s creation of another chicle-based line, Glee Gum, as well as Make Your Own Chocolate and Gummies Kits.
The Make Your Own Gummies Kit relies on seaweed from the Philippines, the Make Your Own Chocolate Kit uses organic cocoa butter from Costa Rica, and the Make Your Own Chewing Gum Kit’s gum base contains chicle from Mexico. The process of making candy, along with the educational material enclosed in each kit, provides an opportunity to learn about ecology, ethnobotany, chemistry, mathematics, measurement and more, according to the company.
Public school teachers interested in applying for free kits may do so here.

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