Purely Spreading The Love

Every purchase of Purely’s plantain chips helps support an orphanage as well as the economy and local communities in Ecuador.

When our founder, Stefania Pellegrino, was travelling extensively around South and Central America for work, she fell in love – not just with the area, but with the food, the culture, and the people there. This is why Purely’s plantain chips are grown and farmed sustainably in Ecuador through a close partnership with small plantation farmers.

Our production plant is located in the city of Portoviejo, Ecuador, supporting both the local community and its economy by not only sourcing our plantains locally and providing an income for small farmers, but by keeping our production local, too.

Stef said this about her goals for Purely:

“We started making plantain chips because we wanted to create a healthier alternative to potato crisps and wanted to reach out to a wider audience to enjoy them as we know how delicious this unsung yet more nutritious cousin of the banana is. But we also wanted to support the local towns and communities that we work with to create a truly sustainable business model.”

Through sustainable partnerships with local plantation farmers, supporting the local economy by keeping production local, and providing employment opportunities to the local communities via the production plant and plantation, Stef’s goal of supporting the Ecuadorian people is being realised.

Casa Hogar de Belen orphanage

Stef’s desire to support the local Ecuadorian communities didn’t end with our plantain chip’s production. She wanted to do more than just create a positive, sustainable business model, which is why Purely have partnered with Casa Hogar de Belen.

Casa Hogar de Belen is an orphanage based in Portoviejo, Ecuador, where Purely’s plantain chip production is based. Casa Hogar de Belen provides a safe haven for local children that have had the misfortune of suffering severe trauma such as abandonment, mistreatment, and abuse.

For context, in Ecuador, around 40% of children and adolescents are living in poverty with around 15% living in extreme poverty, which I’m sure you’ll agree: these numbers are far too high. Many parents who are still alive when their children go into care, place their children into orphanages simply because they cannot afford to feed them.

At Purely, we wanted to do something to help with the global crisis of child poverty that Ecuador is currently a part of. So, we partnered with Casa Hogar de Belen, helping to support 42 children housed and cared for under the stewardship of the incredible staff and volunteers there.

Every purchase of Purely Plantain Chips helps

Through our Corporate Social Responsibility scheme and partnership with Casa Hogar de Belen, every purchase of Purely’s Plantain Chips helps the orphanage look after the children housed there. The orphanage helps to provide them with a better quality of life as well as educational opportunities such as learning to read and write and teaching them many other skills that will allow them to reenter and integrate into society on equal footing.

We donate a portion of all profits from our plantain chips to Casa Hogar de Belen, which means that any time you make a purchase of Purely’s products, you’re helping them, too!

Recently, Casa Hogar de Belen have been able to improve their accommodations, provide baking courses for some of the teenagers staying there, and even managed to throw a party, which included bouncy castles! All thanks to donations and support from partnerships and schemes like ours.

So, just remember, every time you purchase a bag of Purely Plantain Chips, you’re not just supporting the local communities and farmers in Ecuador, but you’re providing the children of Casa Hogar de Belen with a better life.

Thank you!