About Taste the Impact
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Taste the Impact is the nonprofit offshoot of our original benefit corporation, Taste of Immokalee. With the successful growth since the company launched in 2014, Taste the Impact was formed in 2019 to focus on the funding needed to accept more deserving high school students into the program. Without adequate funding, many qualified applicants must be turned away every year.
Please consider supporting Taste the Impact and helping to equip students with the entrepreneurial skills needed to rise out of poverty and make a positive impact on their community. All donations are tax deductible. Together we are igniting dreams and changing communities. |
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IN THE WORDS OF A FOUNDING STUDENT
Our Story
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In 2014, my classmates and I were returning to Immokalee High School from a field trip where we packed meals for the many hungry people in our town. Most of us had grown up in migrant farm working families, within an impoverished community where there was little hope for a better future. But on that particular day we looked around at all the fields of rich agriculture surrounding us and we asked ourselves, "What would happen if we created products from these crops, sold them, and used the profits to help people in our community?"
That was the beginning of Taste of Immokalee, a social business created and operated by high school students that creates and sells salsa and sauces from the fresh produce of Immokalee, Florida, using the profits to alleviate the extreme poverty in our hometown. The entrepreneurship program, now called Taste the Impact, enabled me to grow into a person that both me and my family are proud of. I have gained business and leadership skills that not only prepared me to become a first-generation college graduate, but also were crucial to attaining multiple internships. I am now beginning my career – one that I could not have imagined possible just four years ago when returning from that field trip in high school. -Dulce Marie Mendoza, Founding Member of Taste of Immokalee |
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100% of Profits Benefit YouthYour purchases keep our program going!
Students that move into internship positions gain hands-on experience in all areas of business while learning to create and sell products through our sister company, Taste of Immokalee. Developed in partnership with professional mentors, chefs and food industry experts, Taste of Immokalee's salsa and sauces are made with farm-fresh local produce and meet the highest quality standards.
All profits from the sale of these products are used to fuel our program, providing business experience and scholarships to our students, supporting local youth programs, and alleviating the many economic needs in our community. |
Made with fresh Florida produce, Taste of Immokalee products are sold online and in over 240 Publix locations in Florida.
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CHANGING LIVES
The Impact
High school graduates, first-generation college students who are thriving in college campuses around the U.S. including Ivy League schools, and young professionals succeeding in corporate environments - all while giving back to their hometown community of Immokalee, Florida. These are just a few of the many ways Taste the Impact is changing lives.
