In August, Branches Pregnancy Resource Center in Brattleboro, Vermont received a $1,000 grant from the Ben and Jerry’s Foundation Community Action Team to help finance a renovation project.
Considering Ben and Jerry’s staunch pro-choice activism, however, it was surprising that the ice cream company would help support a faith-based pregnancy center.
Following publicity from the grant, and the likely fallout from those who align with the company’s pro-choice values, the Ben and Jerry’s Foundation issued an explanation that immediately froze any good will toward Branches, one of 1,200 pregnancy resource centers in Care Net’s network.
In a letter to the editor in the Manchester Journal, Lisa Pendolino, Director of Finance and Operations for the foundation, made it abundantly clear that Ben and Jerry’s advocates for “reproductive justice.”
“The Company and Foundation are proud of and support Vermont’s strong stand on the side of privacy, personal autonomy and reproductive liberty,” she wrote.
Pendolino sought to clarify any mixed messaging by explaining that the Ben and Jerry’s Community Foundation Team operates as an autonomous employee group—apart from the larger Foundation—and is empowered to make small grants at the local level based on their judgments about community needs. The Ben and Jerry’s Foundation also responded by donating $2,500 to Planned Parenthood of Brattleboro (a more than double scoop compared to the grant given to Branches).
In her letter, Pendolino was also critical of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center for suing the State of Vermont over the ‘Shield’ law, also known as SB 37. The 2023 law protects clinic professionals from being disciplined by out-of-state authorities for offering abortion services and protects patients seeking abortions in Vermont from facing legal repercussions in their home states.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed the suit on behalf of Branches and other PRCs, the law censors pregnancy centers’ ability to advertise their services and precludes the organizations from offering even non-medical services, information, and counseling unless provided by a licensed health care provider.
In the letter, Pendolino noted that the Ben and Jerry’s employee group making the grant decision was not aware of the litigation or Branches “affiliation with organizations opposed to reproductive freedom and individual rights.” She promised that “the Foundation will do a better job making sure the team members have complete information” in the future.
In the Brattleboro Reformer, Jean Marie Davis, executive director of Branches, said she was initially surprised to hear back from Ben and Jerry’s after applying for the grant earlier this summer. In the article, Davis said the pregnancy center was renovating its basement and attic as part of a $100,000 building project.
According to the Ben and Jerry’s Foundation Community Action Team grant guidelines, funds should be awarded to organizations that focus on under-served populations, address basic human needs, and demonstrate support for the community, among other criteria.
“We applied for the grant under education because we are education focused,” Davis said in the Brattleboro Reformer. “We also just started a scholarship program for mothers to help them get through college. [In the grant application], we told them about that [program], told them who we were, and they approved our $1,000 grant.”