What Are You Doing on Summer Vacation?
The Sodexo Foundation Is Feeding 7,000 Children Nationwide
By Tami Carter-McNulty, Senior Recruiter

Sodexo “Heroes of Everyday Life” winners were awarded at the 2008 STOP Hunger Foundation Dinner.

The Sodexo Foundation honored eight “Heroes of Everyday Life” recently at the annual foundation dinner held on June 11, 2008. Of the various hunger initiatives developed by these Sodexo employees, one such program that the foundation spearheads is the “Feeding Our Future” summer lunch program, comprising 275,000 meals each summer serving 7,000 children across the country.

Beach towels, swimming pools and sand buckets — typical items on the minds of many kids as they head into summer break. One thing that doesn’t always make it on the list is lunch, and for many children nationwide that rely on free or reduced-price lunches, many end up going without. How many children? Over 12 million kids are affected when the school year ends each year.

The Sodexo Foundation, an independent charitable arm of Sodexo, Inc., has recognized this problem for over a decade through the Feeding Our Future lunch program. How does it work? The foundation provides grants for the purchase of food for the meals, and local Sodexo employees donate time and labor to prepare the meals each day. Employees work closely with local community organizations who distribute the meals to children at more than 72 feeding sites across the country.

As this program continues to shape the future of many children, the Foundation sets out each year to recognize various other initiatives and efforts by Sodexo employees nationwide who work tirelessly to help combat hunger. The awards each year honor “Heroes of Everyday Life,” employees who through their leadership and passion help make the communities we live in a better place. Eight winners were chosen this year, many for their support of local food banks, canned food drives and meal donations. This year’s winners include:

Laura Carpenter, General Manager – Government Services
Laura has volunteered for eight years with April Showers, a program designed by the Girl Scout Council of Greater St. Louis, to collect personal hygiene items for low-income people. Under Laura’s leadership, the Girl Scouts in her district collected 40,000 items in the last two years for the Ebenezer Food Pantry in Eastern Missouri. Since 2003, Laura has redirected surplus food from Sodexo, providing an average of 10,000 pounds of food a year.

Joe Cross, Food Production Manager – Corporate Services
Joe works tirelessly to raise the awareness of hunger and to provide food to those in need. His efforts include preparing meals for a local shelter in Des Moines, collecting canned goods for the Des Moines Area Religious Council’s (DMARC) emergency food pantry and leading the collection and distribution of food boxes for low-income children to have a healthy meal each day during the summer months.

Craig Dominie, General Manager – Healthcare Services
Since 2004, Craig has planned and implemented a multifaceted Sodexo Servathon program to collect food, raise money and donate time at the local soup kitchen. To date, efforts spearheaded by Craig have generated more than 3,000 pounds of food for Good Samaritan and the local America’s Second Harvest-affiliated soup kitchen, and more than $1,300 has been raised.

Donald Keith, General Manager – Campus Services
For the past 12 years, Donald has led college students on spring service trips to New Orleans, where they spend the week feeding the hungry and visiting the homeless. He also donates surplus food to local homeless shelters.

Steve Mangan, General Manager – Campus Services
For the past three years, Steve has led Sodexo and Indiana University in various initiatives to fight hunger, including the Hoosier Hills Food Back repacking program and the surplus food donation program. Steve is an active board member of the local food bank.

Michael Miller, District Manager – School Services
Every year since 2004, Michael has planted a 2,500-square-foot garden, harvesting more than 1,200 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables that he donates to Food Gatherers and a senior citizens center in Saline. Mike is also instrumental in growing the Backpack Program at Sodexo-run accounts providing school children with kid-friendly nutritious snacks and meals.

Sue Niemczyk, Operations Vice President – School Services
Sue was instrumental in developing the Sodexo and Public Action to Deliver Shelter partnership, recruiting and engaging Sodexo accounts and employees to provide meals and to donate surplus food to the shelter.

Jim Toczydlowski, General Manager – Campus Services
Since 2002, Jim has been involved with a variety of can food drives, including Sodexo Cans Across America, collecting nearly 9,000 pounds to date. In addition, since 2005, Jim has been involved with and serves on the Board of the Interreligious Food Consortium (IFC), helping to raise awareness and funds for the network of 75 local food pantries.

To learn more about the various STOP Hunger initiatives and what the Sodexo Foundation is all about, visit www.helpstophunger.org