Three Community Groups Receive Unilever Foundation Awards

What is important to Unilever? Helping those who work with children, building self-esteem, assisting the elderly and preserving the land.

That's why the Hot Steamed Jazz Festival, Connecticut Farmland Trust and Golden Opportunities each were recipients of the Unilever United States Grant Foundation awards.

As Unilever grant community organizer Gloria McQueeney explained, the company funds local organizations that hold true to the company's values - those of helping children, the elderly, and preserving the planet, she said.

A committee of employees researches the organizations that make the grade.

This year, the Hot Steamed Jazz Festival was awarded $2,500. The three-day festival in Essex raises money for Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Connecticut, that helps kids with cancer and other life-altering diseases.

The mission of the Connecticut Farmland Trust, headquartered in Hartford, is to preserve the state's working farms and farmland. They received $4,000.

Golden Opportunities, a non-profit in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, is an organization that helps the elderly maintain a high quality of life by helping prevent loneliness and a feeling of helplessness. To help them in their mission, Unilever awarded them $3,000.