V-Day Partners With Vosges Haut-Chocolat to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls Around the World

Contact:
V-Day, Susan Celia Swan, [email protected]
, (212) 445-3288

Vosges Haut-Chocolat, Katrina Markoff, [email protected]
, (773) 772-5349

HELP V-DAY STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
WITH YOUR PURCHASE OF VOSGES HAUT-CHOCOLATS
October 5, 2001 -- - New York, NY -- V-Day, the global movement to stop violence against women and girls, and Vosges Haut-Chocolat, the exotic truffle maker, today announced their partnership to raise money to help stop violence against women and girls.

In its first-ever marketing partnership, V-Day has joined forces with Vosges Haut-Chocolat in a collaboration that will raise money through the sale of Vosges fine chocolates. Starting today, 25% of sales from Vosges’ "Sophie’s Boîte à Chapeau" will be donated to V-Day to be distributed to non-profit, anti-violence groups including rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters. In addition, during the month of February 2002, Vosges will donate $1 of each purchase of their truffle boxes to V-Day.

"Vosges is a women-owned and operated company and we are thrilled to be able to be part of the solution to help stop the terrible violence that women and girls face every day,’’ said Katrina Markoff, Founder and CEO of Vosges Haut-Chocolat. "Women are huge consumers of chocolates and now they can help anti-violence organizations with their chocolate purchase."

"V-Day was founded as a creative way to raise money to end violence and to support women throughout the world," said Willa Shalit, Executive Director of V-Day. "We are thankful to Vosges Haut-Chocolate for providing such a creative and delicious way to raise funds to stop violence against women and girls. This partnership truly reflects V-Day’s mission to empower through innovation. Gift giving, especially around the winter holidays and Valentine’s Day, always feels good. But now giving the gift of safety feels even better!"

Vosges Haut-Chocolat is available nationwide at www.VosgesChocolate.com
or by calling 888.301.yumm. They are also available at select Neiman Marcus and Dean & Deluca retail stores around the country.

About V-Day
V-Day is a global movement to stop violence – incest, rape, domestic battery, female genital mutilation, sexual slavery – against women and girls. V-Day promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day helps these organizations to continue and to expand their core work, while generating broader attention for the fight to stop worldwide violence against women and girls. V-Day is also a day - on or around Valentine's Day in February - for which annual theatrical and artistic events are produced around the world to raise money and to transform consciousness. This annual cluster of events, campaigns, and initiatives (identified as V-Day 2001, V-Day 2002, etc.) include, but are not limited to, the College Campaign, the Worldwide Campaign and the International Stop Rape Contest. To date, Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" has been the centerpiece of these events, the biggest of which was the V-Day 2001 benefit performance at Madison Square Garden. V-Day is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Read more about V-Day at www.vday.org.

About Vosges Haut-Chocolat
Vosges Haut-Chocolat exotic truffles are hand-made from the finest ingredients, all personally selected by Chocolatier, Katrina Markoff. Markoff utilizes traditional methods of French confectionery artistry that she developed studying in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu. The small, European-style truffles are all made with a blend of Belgium and French chocolates infused with an array of rare spices and flowers from various regions around the world. The result is an explosive, sensory experience in the mouths of the beholders. Vosges Haut-Chocolat offers a line of truffles unlike any other in the world. Start your journey in Budapest where our dark chocolate truffle is finished with sweet Hungarian paprika; then move to France, where the Viola envelopes french tradition, its creamy milk chocolate body is topped with a sparkling violet; travel on to India with the Naga, a milk chocolate, coconut truffle that has been infused with Northern Indian curry; then traverse to Japan where a delicate blend of ginger and wasabi can be found in the Black Pearl; continue south to Australia where decadent macadamia nut praline, coconut and milk chocolate is declared the Woolloomooloo; end your journey back home tasting the southern charm of a Mint Julep, mint leaves, dark chocolate and silver leaf. All truffles are creativity packaged in Vosges Haut-Chocolat signature purple gift boxes and in unique Asian boxes with simple wood chopsticks. Katrina Markoff and Julie Lang, started Vosges Haut-Chocolat in January 1998. Today these two entrepreneurs remain the sole, female proprietors of the brand.

About Sophie’s Boîte à Chapeau
Sophie’s Boîte à Chapeau is an elegant hatbox filled with exotic truffles, couture cocoas and ‘haut-chocolat.’ Each hatbox is hand crafted by an artist who signs and numbers the bottom of every Boîte. Vosges Haut-Chocolat exclusively created this limited edition print of only 1000 pieces. The box is filled with: 16 pieces of the Exotic Truffle Collection, 9 pieces of the Aztec Truffle Collection, 1 pound of Caramel Toffee, 2 Sophie Bars, Aztec Elixir, Parisienne & Bianca Couture Cocoas and Le Cordon Bleu chocolate tiles.