Dollar General Literacy Foundation Presents Grants at Dollar General 300

Reinforcing its commitment to literacy and education, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation and Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer products companies, presented $80,000 in total grants today to 15 Charlotte-area schools and Speedway Children’s Charities at the NASCAR® Nationwide Series Dollar General 300. Speedway Children’s Charities and each of the following elementary schools received $5,000 from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation: Central, Cloverleaf, Coddle Creek, Cool Spring, East Iredell, Harmony, Lake Norman, Lakeshore, NB Mills, Scotts, Sharon, Third Creek, Troutman, Union Grove and Woodland Heights.

“We believe that helping children experience the joy of reading is important to their future academic success,” said David Beré, Dollar General’s president and chief strategy officer. “We hope that through our partnership with Unilever and the Iredell-Statesville School District, the ‘Reading Puts You on the Track to Victory’ program will help students experience the fun and excitement of reading.”

Representatives from each school and Speedway Children’s Charities received their grant from Beré.

“Unilever is proud to continue our support of the 'Reading Puts You on the Track to Victory' reading program for a second consecutive year,” said Lisa Klauser, Unilever’s vice president of consumer and customer solutions. “Building on the success of last year's program, together with Dollar General, our goal is to help play a role in laying the groundwork for a bright and successful future for these children."

Dollar General has also been promoting reading among the elementary students at each of these schools through the “Reading Puts You on the Track to Victory,” reading program. For a period of two-and-a-half weeks, students tracked their time spent reading. Students who had the highest reading times received four tickets to the Dollar General 300, with 15,000 tickets given to area students overall. One student reader was selected to receive a grand prize package that included tickets to the Dollar General 300 and the NASCAR® Banking 500 Only from Bank of America, pit passes and a ride around the race track in a pace car.

"We thank Unilever and Dollar General for their generosity and Bulldawg Marketing for allowing us to participate,” said Brady Johnson, Interim Superintendent, Iredell-Statesville Schools. “It's great to see the partnership between business and education. The immediate payoff for these students is the fun of attending a race with their families, but the long term benefit to their schools will have an impact far beyond this race."

Since its founding, Dollar General has been committed to supporting literacy and education. To further this support, the company founded the Dollar General Literacy Foundation in 1993 to improve the functional literacy of adults and families by providing grants to non-profit organizations dedicated to the advancement of literacy. To learn more about Dollar General’s literacy initiatives and available grants, visit www.dollargeneral.com.

About Dollar General

Dollar General is a leading discount retailer with more than 8,600 neighborhood stores. Dollar General stores provide convenience and value to customers by offering consumable basic items such as food, snacks, health and beauty aids and cleaning supplies, as well as basic apparel, house wares and seasonal items at everyday low prices. The company has a longstanding tradition of supporting literacy and education. Since its inception in 1993, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has awarded more than $38.4 million in grants to nonprofit organizations, helping more than 2.1 million individuals take their first steps toward literacy, a general education diploma or English proficiency. To learn more about Dollar General, visit www.dollargeneral.com.

About Unilever

Unilever’s mission is to add vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Each day, around the world, consumers make 160 million decisions to purchase Unilever products.

In the United States, the portfolio includes major brand icons such as: Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Hellmann's, Klondike, Knorr, Lipton, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Suave, Sunsilk and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies. Dedicated to serving consumers and the communities where we live, work and play, Unilever employs nearly 12,000 people in both the United States and Puerto Rico – generating nearly $10 billion in sales in 2008. For more information, visit www.unileverusa.com.