Employees at Sysco Canada volunteer at Ronald McDonald House in Halifax during the organization’s Purpose Month.Supplied
For Robin Letto, one of the best parts of her job at Sysco Canada Inc. is providing meaningful opportunities for her colleagues to live their employer’s purpose of “connecting the world to share food and care for one another.”
As the human resources manager and chair of the company’s Ontario sustainability committee, Letto turns her attention each November to supporting Sysco’s Global Good campaign during their Purpose Month. Sysco Corporation – the largest broadline food distributor on the planet – has a $500-million charitable initiative that provides food donations, colleague volunteer time and financial support to hunger-relief organizations.
“We volunteered just over 3,600 hours in Ontario last November with a variety of organizations. We partnered with Ontario-based Food for Life and our team sorted and packed almost 35,000 pounds of food,” says Letto. “The impact of that helped feed almost 4,000 families. We are really proud.”
Letto and her colleagues across Ontario also assembled 2,000 food bags, each filled with a peanut butter sandwich, a granola bar and a water bottle. The bags were donated to local homeless shelters for people in need. “My colleagues just took the idea and ran with it,” she says. “The willingness of the team to make it work was amazing. I can’t wait to do it next year and find other areas of opportunities.” Jason Welter, vice president human resources, international Americas, is proud of the increased engagement during Purpose Month. Three years ago, during the initiative’s first year, employees across Canada volunteered 6,000 hours. Last November, they more than doubled that to 12,700 volunteer hours.
“All of those hours volunteering in our community go toward our Global Good Goal while directly supporting our purpose,” Welter says. “We use our purpose as a guiding light and to support a more sustainable community.”
Welter turns to Sysco Canada’s sustainability committees in different parts of the country to drive the company’s efforts, not only during Purpose Month but throughout the year. “They advise us on opportunities, and they create energy, support and teamwork around all our different activities, such as identifying community partners for donations, supporting local engagement initiatives, and finding sustainable ways to redirect food waste,” he says.
Year round, Sysco Canada provides help through its Nourishing Neighbours Program. “It is our signature program where we support organizations in communities that work to eliminate hunger and make nutritious food available where it is needed most,” Welter says.
Last year, for example, Sysco Canada made a $10,000 donation to the Three Sisters Garden and Mashkiki Gitigan (Medicine Garden) at the Crawford Lake Conservation Area in Milton, Ont. The gardens are considered an important place for healing and education.
Sysco also partners with local community organizations to divert food waste from landfills. In Peterborough, Ont., this means any Sysco products still considered consumable but not sellable are donated to a local food bank. Any fresh produce that can’t be sold or eaten is hauled away by a farmer who uses it for livestock feed or composting. “We try to eliminate as much food waste as we can,” Letto says.
In Edmonton this spring, Sysco Canada’s new solar farm is expected to generate about 75 per cent of the annual electricity needs for a 400,000-square-foot site. “We’ve never done this in Canada before. It is exciting,” says Welter.
And Sysco Canada’s first eight electric semi transport trucks went on the road during their first winter earlier this year. They are expected to spin off more sustainable initiatives across Canada, he says. “We’ve said publicly that we plan to reduce our operational emissions by 27.5 per cent by 2030.”
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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.