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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 2007. 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 project in New Orleans. Community Volunteering and Service Employees at Ben & Jerry’s plants in Waterbury and St. Albans participate in a wide range of community projects as well. In 2007, Waterbury plant employees spent almost 1300 hours in community service and raised over $10,000 to support local nonprofit organizations. Highlights included a Food and Coat Drive to benefit the Waterbury Food Shelf that gathered over 300 pounds of food and about 30 winter coats; participation in the Prouty Challenge to raise money for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center in New Hampshire; and the Great Pumpkin Giveaway. St. Albans plant employees gave nearly 2,100 hours of time to community service projects and raised over $28,000 to support Vermont nonprofits, including participation in Vermont’s Maple Festival, June Dairy Days, the Franklin County Relay for Life, and the March of Dimes walk. 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. Our records indicate that dozens of employees used this benefit in 2007, though we still have not managed to create a system that can automatically track the total hours. Project Joy Ben & Jerry’s organizes this project each year around the holidays to reach out to communities in Vermont facing economic hardship. In 2007, our Central Support Office worked with Northeast Kingdom Community Action in St. Johnsbury, Vermont and Home Instead Senior Care in South Burlington. Working from a stack of wish lists, our employees purchased, wrapped, and sent presents and books to 25 children from families in crisis and 11 seniors in assisted living arrangements without families of their own. It’s always a joy for everyone involved! 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 2007, they donated proceeds from cookie sales — plus a Ben & Jerry’s Foundation match — totaling $875 to the WARMTH program, which funds emergency heating oil supplies for low-income families in Vermont. |
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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.