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Meadowfresh Dairy partnered with KidsPlay Foundation and set-up a fluid milk ‘drive-in’ to donate nourishing milk to those in the community during these challenging times. Due to the drastic downturn in demand for dairy products from the food service industry (directly attributed to COVID-19), Meadowfresh Dairy had an excess inventory of fluid milk products which they wanted to give back and donate to the communities they serve. Several of the local food banks and food donation hubs’ cold storage was at capacity and being a perishable product, Meadowfresh had to think fast and get creative – the result was a wonderful partnership with KidsPlay Foundation.
The great news; so many in the community were nourished and not a drop of milk was wasted!
As part of Agrifoods’ 2020 AGM, Delegates, Directors, Members and Special Guests participated in the End-Hunger Games charity event that challenges teams to see who could build the best “canstruction” out of non-perishable food items including products from Agrifoods’ family of brands. In addition, the teams had to complete extra challenges in order to obtain more items to help in their ‘architectural masterpieces’ and the more items they amassed, the more food would be donated. At the end of the ‘game’ almost 300 items of nourishing, non-perishable food items were donated to the Harvest Project Food Bank.
As part of the Annual Delegates Meeting, the Agrifoods Delegates and Board of Directors aka ‘Broth Brothers & Soup Sisters’ – in partnership with Soup Sisters – rolled up their sleeves and got busy chopping, cutting, grating & making 100 litres of delicious and nutritious soup for the Alcove Addiction Recovery For Women Society & Shelter.
It was a soup-er event as your Agrifoods leadership team delivered ‘hugs in a bowl’ on behalf of the cooperative, nourishing the women and shelter who rely on the shelter. “This goes a long way in supporting them on so many levels. We know that this very simple gesture of homemade and nourishing soup also carries with it a very strong message of concern that reaches the women and young people directly.” – Sharon Hapton, Founder & CEO, Soup Sisters.
Earth’s Own’s, Happy Planet’s and Meadowfresh’s community involvement and support of Union Gospel Mission (UGM) has grown from just supporting their Vancouver operations to providing juices and smoothies each month for the meal services and outreach street programs at their New Westminster, BC location. The staff and management at our Annacis Island plant and Meadowfresh Dairy also rolls up their sleeves every couple of months to help UGM New West’s kitchen team prep and serve during their lunch meal services.
Earth’s Own has launched an exciting new partnership with Growing Chefs! which includes sponsoring 2 Vancouver, BC grade school classrooms on a 7-week program whereby the kids were inspired and learned how to grow and cook vegetables. This fun and educational program culminated at the end of November 2018 with in an exciting Stir-Fry Competition with volunteers from Earth’s Own helping to judge the event. 2 new classroom sponsorships begin in March/April (2019.)
Organic Meadow is proud to partner with (FBC) on their After the Bell program which helps to alleviate child hunger during the summer months when school-based breakfast and lunch programs are non-operational. The program provides children with packs of kid-friendly, kid-sized meals consisting of nutritious food including Organic Meadow UHT 2% Organic Milk Boxes! Over the past two summers, 172,000 snack kits were distributed to children in over 40 locations across Canada.
Happy Planet has been helping to nourish men & women who are either living on the street or in low-income situations by supporting the Dinner of Love (DOL) program in downtown Vancouver, BC. Happy Planet provides all of the juice needed for the monthly DOL dinners which are an essential part of the program, creating a compassionate, safe community for those in need.
For the 3rd consecutive year, Happy Planet and Earth’s Own staff participated in National Cupcake Day in support of the BC SPCA and all the wonderful work they do to help animals in need.
Staff got busy baking dozens & dozens of delicious cupcakes and hosted a Cupcake Party for enthusiastic eaters and SPCA supporters alike to purchase. It was a sweet event as over $1,035 was raised for the care and protection of animals!
December 2017 – Happy Planet, Organic Meadow and Earth’s Own staff continued their annual tradition of making the holiday season a bit brighter for local families in need. For the 9th consecutive year, Happy Planet and Earth’s Own partnered with Cedar Cottage Neighbourhood House (an affiliate of the United Way) to share the holiday spirit with three families and this year, Organic Meadow partnered with the Children’s Foundation of Guelph Wellington to sponsor two families for the Annual Adopt-a-Family Program. Donations of clothing, toys and grocery gift cards were collected and will be delivered directly to the families by our own volunteer ‘elves’. It’s a tradition that continues to be a blessing for everyone!
October 2017 – For the 8th year in a row, Happy Planet happily participated in Eat Well Do Good – an annual community-based fundraising & ‘foodraiser’ in support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society (GVFBS.)
The Happy Planet team was busy volunteering alongside their industry peers and donating their fresh soups and organic unchilled juices to be sold in the Marketplace to help raise funds. The hard work paid off and everyone’s collective efforts raised over $220,000 worth of food to help the thousands of people who depend on the food bank every week.
We’re passionate about giving back to our communities – it’s part of Happy Planet’s philosophy and DNA. Supporting organizations like the Union Gospel Mission (UGM) with both our in-kind donations as well as our active volunteer work helps connect us with both our communities and our consumers. Located in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver BC, UGM, provides critical services and programs for the community every day – they are determined to offer restoration to those in need by coming alongside men, women, and children to provide a hand up towards hope and recovery.
So each month we’re happy to provide our fresh, all-natural juices and smoothies to the UGM for their meal services and outreach/street programs. And every couple of months, our team rolls up our sleeves and works alongside their amazing kitchen team to prep and serve during their meal services. As they say at UGM; ‘Hope starts with a meal.’
