Venue host Sodexo Live! welcomed 440 guests from Sodexo’s suppliers and client organisations, as well as its employees from across its business. The dinner was hosted by chief executive of Sodexo Sean Hayley, chair of the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation Gareth John and Sodexo ambassador Matt Dawson.
In 2022 money raised through the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation benefited 13 charities, helping to improve the lives of some 1,140,397 beneficiaries and enabling 19,143 meals to be distributed.
In 2022, 33% of the grants made by the charity focussed on projects supporting individuals to sustainably exit food insecurity. The remaining of the funds went to address the immediate impact of food insecurity.
During the dinner Sodexo’s global food safety director and head of food safety in the UK&I Julie Wagner shared her experience about the skills-based volunteering opportunity she undertook with Stop Hunger and the World Food Programme humanitarian mission in Jordan.
Guests also heard from Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of FareShare, who shared the impact of the Foundation’s financial contributions and the crucial role volunteers play to enable the charity to redistribute food to vulnerable groups across the UK.
Hayley commented: “Over the last year our colleagues across the UK and Ireland have gone over and above in their commitment to fundraising, enabling us to provide valuable financial support to help benefit the communities in which we live and work.
“But it is not just a financial contribution we’ve made, our volunteering programme allows every Sodexo colleague to take up to three volunteering days a year and between September 2021 and August 2022 our colleagues recorded an amazing 4,443 hours volunteering with our charity partners and helping out in their local communities.
“Volunteering is something I personally try to do as much as I can. Earlier this year I spent a day with the Yorkshire Children’s Centre where I got to meet some of the young people to talk to them about the world of work and share with them the wide range of opportunities that organisations like ours can offer.”
Sodexo to celebrated and recognised the efforts of its employees who every year take the time to organise fundraising events and to volunteer with Stop Hunger. The three winners included:
- Charity Champion of the Year: Beverley Clough from Sodexo’s service operations team.
- Commitment to Volunteering: Sodexo Government’s team at Larkhill Garrison.
- Community Programme: Sodexo Engage (Sodexo’s benefits and rewards business)