Sodexo demonstrates on-going community engagement throughout New England

BOSTON, Mass – The work of Sodexo dining teams extends far beyond the campus dining halls.  Throughout the year, community engagement plays a significant role.

“We are genuinely committed to giving back to the communities we serve, the towns where we live and work, and the region in which our client partners so richly educate students,” said Rush Sherman, Vice President, Operations, Sodexo Campus Services.

Sodexo at Clark University donates all excess food and milk to Rachel’s Table, an organization which distributes donated and specially purchased foods, without charge, to agencies feeding hungry families and individuals in greater Worcester, Massachusetts and to reduce the waste of nourishing food. The Children's Milk Fund purchases milk for needy children.

From preparing meals to providing culinary training, Sodexo employees regularly volunteer their time and skills to Pine Street Inn, the largest resource for homeless men and women in New England, as ‘food services training’ is key for its workforce development program. The program engenders practical skills and job readiness and provides placement assistance to help homeless and low-income individuals re-enter the workforce or move onto additional training or educational opportunities.

Regular Sodexo volunteers at Pine Street Inn include managers and employees from area Sodexo partners, including UMASS Boston, Bentley University, MIT, EMC, Suffolk University, Lasell College, Wheelock College and Stonehill College. Pine Street Inn was selected as a primary recipient of donations by OXEDOS Street Grub, a new Sodexo food truck program rolling onto college campuses throughout the region.

During the Thanksgiving season, college campuses throughout New England work with local food banks as part of Sodexo’s annual “Helping Hands Across America” campaign to help those in need at the community level.  At Lasell College, the team donated over 25 bags and boxes of food to the Centre Street Food Pantry in Newton. 

At Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, the Sodexo team orchestrated collection of 2,218 pounds of food for the local food pantry.

Sodexo at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont working in conjunction with the school’s Director of Engagement and Campus Climate collected 550 pounds of food for CERV (Community Emergency Relief Volunteers) in Northfield.

At Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire, the Sodexo team collected donations for the Community Kitchen receiving approximately 350 donated items.

For twenty-one years, Bentley Breakfast by Moonlight is run by the SGA on campus twice a year on the night before reading day.  Sodexo donates all the food and labor to produce a midnight breakfast for typically around 1000 students.  In 2012, the charity event raised money for a student injured in South Africa.  A total of $2,874 was raised and garnered an attendance of 1,088. To put this into perspective, approximately $24 was raised EVERY MINUTE for a period of two hours. 

During the month of April, employees at Dean College work together through Sodexo Servathon to raise money, donate food, and volunteer time to prepare and serve meals for the 49 million people in the United States who are at risk of hunger.  Sodexo Servathon is the largest employee fundraiser for the Sodexo Foundation.

Sodexo at Babson College organized a Project Bread’s Walk For Hunger Team, an annual 20-Mile walk to end hunger in Massachusetts.  The walk supports more than 450 emergency food programs in 129 communities.  In 2012, over 43,000 people partnered to raise over $3.6 million, including a matched donation by Raytheon.

For over 14 years, employees of Sodexo have supported the Bristol Lodge Soup Kitchen with food donations.  We provide Thanksgiving meals for 20 families and holiday toys for the children of Mary’s House and, in April, conduct the Servathon for which food for nearly 100 guests is donated and prepared by our own chefs.

Over the past 15 years, Sodexo's Feeding Our Future® program has provided more than 131,000 summer lunches to youth from low-income households in Boston who rely on free and reduced-price meals during the school year.  The program now operates in 24 cities in the United States and is made possible in Boston by a grant from Sodexo Foundation, the anti-hunger charitable arm of Sodexo, Inc., and volunteer support from State Street and Sodexo.

Sodexo at Bentley College and Lasell College work closely with community-based organizations to provide employment training and opportunities. These include the Greater Waltham Arc which serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families in the community and More Than Words, a nonprofit social enterprise that empowers youth who are in the foster care system, court involved, homeless, or out of school to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.

Sodexo is deeply involved in community engagement. Throughout the year, health care dining services teams throughout the New England region support the Special Olympics and sponsor fundraising activities for special needs organizations such as the Marie Lyon School in Boston.

About Sodexo (www.sodexousa.com)

Responsible corporate citizenship is at the core of Sodexo's business. The company sets the benchmark in areas such as sustainability, diversity and inclusion, wellness, and the fight against hunger. Sodexo recently launched sustainability plan that affects 80 countries, 33,400 sites, and its 413,000 employees called “The Better Tomorrow Plan.”