Washington Trust's 14th Annual Peanut Butter Drive Begins March 1

GoLocalProv News Team

Washington Trust's 14th Annual Peanut Butter Drive Begins March 1

Since 2001, Washington Trust has collected 105 tons of peanut butter through their annual Peanut Butter Drive.

Now beginning its fourteenth year, the Peanut Butter drive raises non-perishable food donations to benefit Rhode Island Food Banks. Those wishing to help the effort to feed families in need can contribute in a variety of different ways. All Washington Trust locations will have collection sites to accept donated cans. Other are businesses, schools and community organizations will also be participating with their own collection sites, including Trinity Rep, CVS Customer Relations, Metro Park, Block Island’s Old Island Pub, Block Island’s Club Soda, New Shoreham Public Safety, Bradford School, Matunuck Elementary School, and Eden Park School.

Various events and entertainment venues will also be accepting donations. At Yawgoo Valley, customers can get a free lift ticket with the purchase of one lift ticket and the donation of a jar of peanut butter or $5 to benefit the Jonny Cake Center in Peace Dale. Roger Williams Zoo is offering one free child ticket to any youngster who brings a jar of peanut butter with them to the park (limited to one per family).

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The Providence Bruins hockey team will do their part for the Peanut Butter Drive, hosting a collection night during their game against the Worcester Sharks on Friday, March 14th.

There will also be a special Skating With the Stars event to benefit the Drive on Saturday, March 1st, at the Washington Trust Community Skating Center in downtown Westerly. Anyone who brings a jar of peanut butter or makes a donation to the Rhode Island Food Bank will be able to skate for free that day from 12-4pm.

If members of the public unable to make it to an event or facility collecting donations, they are invited to Donate the Difference by opting for a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and donating what they would have otherwise spent going out to a restaurant. All donations will directly benefit the Rhode Island Food Bank.

With a single jar of peanut butter able to make 16 sandwiches for a family in need, peanut butter can be an incredible way to make a difference. To learn more, or see a full list of places you can drop off your donation, by visiting http://www.washtrust.com/home/about/peanutbutter.  

10 Historically Bold Moves Made By Big Companies

10. RJ Reynolds

The Smokeless Cigarette

LOSE

In 1988, long after the American public wised up to the dangers of cigarettes, RJ Reynolds launched the Premier cigarette. They called it a “smokeless nicotine delivery mechanism that looks and feels like a premium cigarette.” It didn't. Smokers said it tasted like charcoal, and drug users quickly figured out how to use it to smoke crack. It has been reported that RJ Reynolds lost $1 billion on the product.

9. McDonald's

The McLobster

LOSE

The alleged lobster roll – no one's sure there was ever any real lobster in there – from McDonald's was about as successful in New England as their McCrabcake was in Maryland. It looked bad, tasted worse, and was shunned by even the most die hard Golden Arches fans. (Unlike the McRib, which continues to have a bewildering trance on McDonald's fans.) The sandwich is still available in some Canadian franchises and occasionally in Maine.

8. Yahoo

Bans Employees From Working at Home

WIN

When Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer became the company’s chief executive, she instated Google-like food options, offered new benefits, and insisted full-time employees work in the office. The tech world was shocked, and Mayer admitted the mandate could diminish productivity. However, she saw an up side.
 
"People are more productive when they’re alone,” she said at the time. “But they’re more collaborative and innovative when they’re together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together.”
 
Now that Yahoo's future looks far brighter than when Mayer started, it seems she was onto something all along.

7. Sony

Backs Betamax

LOSE

Sony was right to support Blu-ray over the failed HD DVD, probably because they learned their lesson with the Betamax experience in 1975. That's the year the Betamax video recorder hit stores shelves. A year later, the VHS format hit the market. Sony never licensed its Betamax technology, and the two formats were not compatible. Consumers had to choose between the two. You know how that story ended.

6. Tesla

Enters the Auto Market with High End Electric

WIN

Whoever killed the electric car must not have been looking when the first Tesla Model S cars were sold at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. The Silicon Valley electric carmaker took the idea of eco-friendly vehicles and turned it into a blueprint for lead-footed success. Tesla's first made-from-scratch car, the electric Model S sedan, received a rare near-perfect score from Consumer Reports. At the time, Bill Ford, the executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., said "My hat's off to them." Tesla has since transformed America's image of electric cars. 

5. Apple

Fires Steve Jobs

LOSE

One of the world's most famous college drop outs, Steve Jobs founded Apple, helped it grow into a billion-plus public company, and launched the Macintosh. He was also ousted by Apple's Board of Directors in 1985. The popular take is that the board was stupid to fire Jobs as the leader of the Mac division, because Apple would have more quickly become the company it is today. A new take on the decision posits that the then-30-year old  Jobs was disruptive and incompetent in that role. After 12 years away from the company he founded, he learned the skills and discipline required for Apple's rebirth.

4. Microsoft

Takes on Sony + Nintendo in the Console Gaming Market

WIN

Microsoft has one person to thank for its console gaming success, and that person isn't even real. Master Chief is the hero of the insanely popular "Halo" franchise, which was first released was a launch title with the original Xbox. The game revolutionized First Person Shooters on consoles, and sold millions of consoles along the way. At the time, Microsoft was known as primarily a software company. They may have took a bath on those early consoles, but they now join Sony as one of the two major console makers left standing. (Sorry, Nintendo. The Wii U is going to sink you.)  

3. Netflix

Changes Pricing Plan

LOSE

Netflix is back on top now, but it almost went under in 2011 when it mishandled its pricing changes and attempted to slice off it DVD business under the name Qwikster. As they did with the New Coke launch, customers responded with immediate anger, leading Netflix CEO Reed Hastings to apologize. The company reverted to its $7.99 streaming plan and has never looked back.

2. Ford

Opts out of Government Loans

WIN

After Detroit’s automakers went to Washington in 2008 asking for emergency loans to keep their enterprises afloat, the big bus oval was the only one to opt out of the bailout. Ford decided to mortgage all of its assets to raise operating funds instead. Taxpayers eventually spent $80 billion to rescue General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. Ford focused on efficiency and increasing sales without using government bailout  money - thus avoiding the federal tinkering that Chrysler and GM  had to accept as a part of their deals. The company has since kept pace with GM, the country's largest automaker.

1. Coke

New Coke

LOSE

Perhaps the most famous brand misstep since Ford's Edsel, New Coke is the Titanic of corporate miscalculation. In the 1970s and early 80s, the soft drink giant faced increased competition from Pepsi and other products. To stay on top, Coke executives stopped production of the classic formula and introduced New Coke with tremendous fanfare. The public's responded with immediate outrage. Coca-Cola re-launched its original formula – called Coca-Cola Classic – almost immediately. Today, unopened cans of New Coke go for hundreds on eBay.

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