Sodexo team tackle hunger campaign

21st May 2009, 10:10am

Eight local employees who work for Sodexo Defence have taken part in a global volunteering initiative as part of a campaign aiming to tackle hunger in local communities.

The employees spent a day at a FareShare depot in Barnsley, sorting food and loading it into vans before delivering it to local charities. FareShare is a national food redistribution charity that helps over 29,000 vunerable and disadvantaged people every day. 

The initiative was part of the 'Servathon', a global operation launched by Sodexo to support its STOP Hunger campaign to alleviate hunger and promote healthy eating in local communities. Sodexo operations across the world, including the UK, the US, France, Peru, Romania and Italy, among others, participated.

The voluntary service of the Sodexo team is a key part of its commitment to help FareShare tackle hunger. Sodexo donated £90,000 to FareShare last year and over 88 days of volunteering were undertaken by staff.

Thomas Jelley, corporate citizenship manager at Sodexo, said: "About a billion people around the world suffer from hunger. As a company, Sodexo is committed to tackling hunger and its impact in the communities we serve.

"In response to the added challenges resulting from the current financial and economic crisis, we have given special encouragement this year to our teams worldwide to participate in Sodexo's Servathon.  We know that by acting collectively, we will make a stronger contribution towards a world free of hunger and malnutrition."

Helen Fleming, corporate development officer, FareShare, added: "Team volunteering is at the heart of our ongoing partnership with Sodexo. It offers employees the chance to get directly involved in our work, by packing food orders and making deliveries to community organisations that support disadvantaged people.

"The Catterick volunteers were really enthusiastic and got stuck in straight away, and had the chance to find out how supporting STOP Hunger makes a real difference to FareShare on the ground."

Sodexo's STOP Hunger programme began more than 10 years ago and today the initiative has spread globally to 25 of Sodexo's host countries.

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