Molson in the Community

Photo L-R: Kevin T. Boyce, President and CEO, Molson; Clare Archibald, Executive Director, Moncton Headstart;Peter Johnson, President of Moncton Headstart; Mayor George LeBlanc, Mayor of Moncton

President and CEO of Molson in Canada, Kevin Boyce, joined with colleagues in Moncton earlier today to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Moncton Molson Brewery opening with a $15,000 cheque to Headstart. This money will be dedicated to the Headstart Food Box program this holiday season and will benefit 200 families in the Moncton area.

Clare Archibald from Moncton Headstart spoke about last year’s total of 1700 food boxes that would have provided food to over 3700 people. Archibald is hopeful that Molson’s efforts will encourage other corporations and individuals to provide support for this worthwhile cause.

Kevin Boyce spoke about the inspiration that he felt when touring the Headstart kitchen during last year’s brewery opening festivities. Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc was also on hand and as a past president of Moncton Headstart he spoke about the impact that this food box initiative has on families who are receiving this kind of support.

Molson has a long standing heritage and history of supporting the greater community. Kevin Boyce spoke about the company and the pride that Molson employees have in being involved in their communities.

If you would like to support Moncton Headstart you can visit www.monctonheadstart.com to lend your support to this worthy initiative.

Photo L - R: Steve Dykeman, Regional Manager NB/PEI, Molson; Jean-François Damphousse Director of Hockey Administration, Dieppe Commandos

The giving continued on Sunday when I presented a $10,000 donation to the Dieppe Commandos Education Fund at the team’s home game.  These funds will go to help members of the Maritime Junior A team offset their education costs if they achieve pre-determined academic goals.

This is our third year of the partnership and we are proud of our association with this great organization.  They will be hosting the Fred Page Cup in 2009 and we will be behind them all the way.

The Molson Maritime team rolled up its sleeves at Food Depot Alimentaire in Moncton for our United Way Day of Caring. Food Depot Alimentaire is an organization that supports and services over 20 food banks, community kitchens and agencies in southeastern New Brunswick. They do great work and have been a charitable partner of Molson for a few years now. When we arrived we encountered pallets of food that needed to be unpacked, sorted and repacked for distribution to food banks across southeastern New Brunswick. In true Molson style, we took the task and made quick work of the challenge.  What a great feeling to be part of a team that approaches everything with such passion.
This weekend the Molson team is celebrating our first anniversary of our Moncton brewery with more charitable activities so stay tuned…

The “Jack Gives Back” event gave me an opportunity to work with Ian on the Molson Donation Fund presentation.  As you may have noticed in our community blogs our Public Affairs department likes to present to our charities in a most unique fashion, you will not see too many photo’s with a big cheque front and centre.  Ian was very polite as I expresssed my ideas to him and he was a good sport to take the branded 6 foot spinal board with him!!  Ian has shared his experience below.  Way to go Ian!!

Attending this event just goes to show there are all kinds of nice people trying to do nice things to help others.  I didn’t know Jack Rafacz until an acquaintance at the gym told me about the fundraiser Jack was having for the Sunnybrook Trauma and Critical Care Unit and wondered if there was something Molson might be able to do to contribute to the event.  It turns out that Jack was a chef at the 4-Seasons and he was organizing a benefit dinner, complete with menu and volunteer chefs – his former colleagues.  The reason he was doing this was to give back to Sunnybrook. He was struck by a car almost 2 years ago, was in a medically induced coma for 6 weeks but now has gone through a remarkable rehabilitation.  So he was a living example of the remarkable talent of the medical teams at Sunnybrook. Anyway, instead of a few door prizes, Molson came through with a cheque for $5000 to the Sunnybrook Foundation. I guess we can all hope to never see the inside of Sunnybrook’s trauma centre but it’s comforting to know they are there and continue to make such a positive difference in the lives of those who have needed them.

By the way, the food was fantastic, the beer was cold and Jack continues to exercise at the YMCA.

A delegation of Molson folks lead by our Chief Legal and Public Affairs Officer - Scott Ewart - attended the Queen’s University School of Business  Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility seminars and workshops this past weekend in Kingston.  Joining Scott were myself, Ferg Devins VP Gov’t and Public Affairs and Tonia Hammer, Community Relations Coordinator. Mary Donohue, philanthropy consultant to Molson also played an active role in the weekend event.

Frankly the weekend was uplifting. It was refreshing to engage in dialogue with these young future leaders in conversation about the impact and influence of corporate social responsibility. Many of the students were quite in awe of the work that so many corporations are carrying out in this area. For many it was their first exposure to the intiatives that many corporations now conduct as part of the onging business models of their day to day business practice.

On Saturday morning eight different external constituents of business, education and consulting lead round table discussions related to Corporate Social Responsibility.

Included amongst the discussion leaders were Molson, Proctor and Gamble, George Brown College, Accenture, Orenda, Mountain Equipment Co-op and Concerned Children’s Advertisers.

A special highlight for the Molson team was a special award of distinction presented to Scott Ewart for his leadership and tenacity in ensuring the that National Mentoring Program got underway a year ago. Peggy Cunningham spoke about her initial fear of the project and yet a year later, her pride in what has been accomplished in engaging young leaders with corporate mentors at Molson and the difference that this had made in challenges faced by non profits and the charitable sector.

Mary Donohue in a side conversation was proud to acknowledge the success of the National Mentoring Program in year one and that she and Scott are looking at how the model can be expanded to include more universities, engage more business and take the initiative to a national level. More to come there no doubt.

Hats off to Peggy Cunningham, staff and faculty at the Queen’s School of Business and to Mandy Daniel for making sure every detail was buttoned down.

What do YOU have to say about corporate social responsibility ? Love to  hear your thoughts and comments right here on our Molson Community Blog.