Molson in the Community

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.

A team of Molson folks will be travelling to Queen’s University this weekend to partake in the Queen’s School of Business CSR Certification “CSR weekend”. Travelling to Queen’s to participate in a dialogue with business students will be Chief Legal and Public Affairs Officer - Scott Ewart, Vice President fo Government and Public Affairs - Ferg Devins, and Community Relations Co-ordinator - Tonia Hammer. Mary Donohue, a consultant working with Molson in Philanthropic endeavours will also be accompanying the group and participating in this unque learning event at Queen’s. This is the second  year that Molson will participate in the CSR weekend at Queen’s. Last year we announced the creation of the National Mentoring Program whereby students get teamed up with a Molson employee as a mentorin to tackle a particular challenge facing a non profit organization. The Molson mentor and student look at various perspectives and opportunities to resolve the non profit’s challenge and then Molson supports the student in a summer job position with the charity to resolve the issue. Look forward to seeing everyone in Kingston. If anyone has any ideas about enhancing CSR initiatives or other ideas that you would like us to consider, please comment below. Here’s to responsible choices !

Top Photo  L - R: Superintendent Tom McIlhone, Inspector Debra Preston, both of the 22nd Division; Bonnie Levine, Victims Services Toronto; Frank Ivankovic, Molson District Sales Manager; Sarah Rogers, Victims Services Toronto, Chief Bill Blair, Chief of Police; David Knowles, Dave Dunmore Committee.

Team Molson: Front Row- Joel Apostolon, Andy Gervais, Kevin McNeil, Chris Evans, Geoff Ross. Back Row- John Anderson, Jamie Ro, Frank Ivankovic, Josh Smith

I thought for sure the clouds would open up Friday afternoon at Centennial Park for the opening ceremonies of the 24th Annual Dunmore Memorial Slo PitchTournament.  Team Molson must have been doing a sun dance all week because the sun came out as Chief Blair threw the first pitch of the tournament. 

The proceeds from the weekend, which added up to $16,000, went to Victim Services Toronto.  Molson added another $4000 plus a top up of $1000 from the Dunmore Committee to bring in an additional $5000, which will purchase equipment for Project TEAR.

Great work lads!!