Sodexo colleagues mark 60th anniversary with 60-day Stop Hunger campaign

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Sodexo, the Stop Hunger Foundation in the UK & Ireland ran a 60-day fundraising and volunteering campaign between April and June which saw over £7,600 raised and over 2,000 hours of volunteering recorded by Sodexo colleagues across the region.

Since Pierre Bellon founded Sodexo 60 years ago, social impact has always been part of Sodexo’s DNA, with the organisation focusing not only on the services it delivers, but on the communities it serves.

To mark Sodexo’s 60th year, employee volunteers who champion charitable initiatives designed and spearheaded a business-wide volunteering and fundraising programme to celebrate National Volunteers’ Week and the company’s legacy while mobilising colleagues to take collective action in support of the Foundation’s mission to tackle food insecurity and its root causes.

In the ‘60 for 60’ campaign Sodexo’s colleagues were encouraged to work together with clients, suppliers, friends and families to support in their activity whether that was sponsorship, donations or giving up their time to volunteer.

The money raised over the 60-day period, £7,600, was driven from a wide range of colleague-led initiatives reflecting strong local ownership and engagement. Fundraising activities ranged from sponsored runs and bike rides to Paris, to charity football matches, raffles, bake sales and even a crochet-a-thon, creating 60 crocheted items in 60 days.

Throughout the 60 days colleagues also volunteered with a number of the Foundation’s charity partners from those focusing on tackling food insecurity, community and social support organisations through to those providing education and mentoring programmes.

Camille Thobois, Head of The Stop Hunger Foundation, UK & Ireland said: “This year we wanted to do something a little bit different, something that celebrates and represents the breadth of commitment that Sodexo and its employees have towards social impact.  The ’60 for 60’ campaign, an employee-led initiative provided a clear, flexible framework and celebrated the many ways colleagues and teams can get involved in supporting their own local communities.
 
“We wanted colleagues to think creatively about how they can make a difference and they did. Collectively, these actions contribute to a wider effort to tackle food insecurity at a local level, reflecting the Foundation’s belief that sustainable change comes from empowering communities and mobilising the scale, skills and commitment of our people.”

The Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation is an independent and UK-registered charity with a mission to sustainably break the cycle of food insecurity in communities across the UK and Ireland.