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8. Giving Back > Rolling Up Our Sleeves
CAT Team Community Service Day In our own backyard, we commit one day a year to a Company service project, organized by the Community Action Teams (CATs) at each of our three Company sites. Learn more about the CAT projects we completed in 2006. Franchise Community Service Project Our annual Franchise Community Gathering meeting, held in a different location every year, includes a service project with Ben & Jerry’s corporate employees and Scoop Shop owners in the city where we gather. Learn more about our recent projects in San Diego and New Orleans. Community Volunteering
We still don’t have good data on how many other employees used the community service benefit in 2006, a shortcoming we noted in this report last year. We’ll work on creating such a system in 2007. Valentine’s Day fundraiser Our Central Support office employees celebrated Valentine’s Day 2006 by giving flowers and cards to co-workers — and raising money for Women Helping Battered Women at the same time. Flower and card sales brought in $550 with a match from the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation. Project Joy Ben & Jerry’s organizes this project each year around the holidays to reach out to communities in Vermont facing economic hardship. In 2006, our Central Support Office worked with Northeast Kingdom Community Action in Canaan, Vermont. Inspired by a stack of handwritten wish lists, our employees purchased, wrapped, and sent presents and books to 36 children from 16 families in crisis. R&D Christmas Cookie Sale Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Gurus like to do a little cross-training in the kitchen during the holiday season, so each year they turn their talents to baking some irresistible Christmas cookies and selling them to folks here in the Central Office. In 2006, they donated proceeds from cookie sales — plus a Ben & Jerry’s Foundation match – totaling $1,323 to the WARMTH program, which funds emergency heating oil supplies for low-income families in Vermont. Holiday Food Drive The Facilities and Human Resources teams spearheaded a Food Drive challenge for all the departments in our Central Support Office in November 2006 that collected 1,454 pounds of food for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. The Design Department led the way by collecting 372 pounds of food, more than any other department! |
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Participation in community action projects is one of the most enjoyable ways for Ben & Jerry’s employees to give back to the community. Over the years, we’ve made a tradition of many of these projects.
Our Central Support Office in South Burlington extends a community service benefit to every employee, allowing them to take 40 hours of paid time off to volunteer with a nonprofit organization.
In 2006, a crew of seven Ben & Jerry’s employees returned to New Orleans, fifteen months after Hurricane Katrina, to spend another week on the city’s continuing clean-up efforts. Under the leadership of ACORN, a community organization of low–to moderate–income families, this team worked alongside several families to remove damaged furnishings, floors, 
and walls from their previously flooded homes. Ben & Jerry’s once again supported the work of these staunch employee volunteers with a travel budget for the trip to New Orleans.