Molson in the Community

We’ve launched our annual holiday campaign with The Firkin Group of Pubs, partnering with the student-founded and youth driven charity, Meal Exchange. Throughout the month of December, Ontario pub patrons can support Meal Exchange by purchasing a Molson Canadian or Molson Canadian 67/Sublime at any of the participating Firkin Pub locations across Ontario. For every pint or bottle “raised”, The Firkin Group of Pubs and Molson Coors Canada will each donate $0.25 to Meal Exchange.

This is the seventh year of the campaign which has raised over $125,000 dollars. These funds have supported local food banks in Ontario and funded public education programs on food security. With 31 pubs participating this year, our fundraising goal is set at $18,000.

One in eight Ontario households lack the physical and economic means to access sufficient, safe and nutritious food. While over 395,106 turn to a food bank each month for assistance, many more sacrifice their diets in other ways in order to make ends meet.

“Meal Exchange’s founding program made it easy for people to help alleviate hunger while dining on campus,” says Dave Kranenburg, Executive Director, Meal Exchange. “This campaign brings this same idea to life in the community and the money it generates will allow us to feed people today and increase their access to healthy food year-round.”

Student volunteers from Meal Exchange will be visiting the participating pubs during the campaign to speak with the Firkin staff about the important work Meal Exchange does to address food insecurity.

“Meal Exchange representatives visiting our pubs is a great way to increase awareness of the campaign as well as ensure our teams understand how their hard work during a very busy season can make a difference in local communities,” says Larry Isaacs, Director of Marketing, The Firkin Group of Pubs.

Pub patrons can support the fundraising campaign now until Dec 31st, 2011. To find a pub near you: http://www.firkinpubs.com/

Cheers!

Traci Shepheard, Molson Coors Canada, Larry Isaacs, The Firkin Group of Pubs and Dave Kranenburg, Meal Exchange kick off the 2011 campaign at Firkin on King in Toronto, ON

Vancouver – Kits Beach

A busy couple weeks of  Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanups with Molson Canadian Red Leaf Project are coming to an end with our last event in St. John’s NFLD tomorrow!

Across the country we hosted 12 cleanups where Molson Coors employees and consumers joined together at their local shoreline to spend a couple hours making our land even more awesome!  Thanks to all the volunteers!  Some photos from the Halifax, Moncton and Vancouver cleanups below.

Molson Coors crew in Halifax

Gorgeous s Point Pleasant – Halifax

Molson Coors Crew in Moncton

Cleaning up Aboiteau Beach, Moncton

Kits Beach, Vancouver

After a summer of successful community greening initiatives, the Molson Canadian Red Leaf Project is continuing through the month of September (Water Stewardship Month at Molson Coors Brewing Company).  Red Leaf Project is a national sponsor of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (GCSC), a conservation initiative that promotes understanding of shoreline litter issues by engaging Canadians to rehabilitate shoreline areas. This fall we will be hosting shoreline cleanups across Canada as part of Molson Canadian’s ongoing commitment to give back to the land through tree planting, community park projects and shoreline cleanup efforts.

We hope you’ll get your hands a bit dirty and join us for a shoreline cleanup…and then stay for a cold beer! Cheers.

See below for the locations, and remember, if there isn’t one near you, click here to join or organize your own in your community. Hope to see you there!

Last weekend the Molson Canadian Red Leaf Project was in Edmonton, AB at Kinnaird Ravine. Volunteers came out to help naturalize the ravine, planting approximately 800 native trees and shrubs including Trembling Aspen, Wolf Willow, and Saskatoon Berry.

The team did a great job and are now headed to Big Valley Jamboree this weekend!

Thanks to Global TV and City TV for joining us onsite too.

Up next…Red Leaf is coming back to Ontario with 2 events in Toronto. See you in August! Cheers.

Molson Canadian Red Leaf Project was in Covehead, PEI and Sarnia, ON!  Up next…Gibbon’s Park, London, ON this Saturday and Sheriff Robertson Park in Edmonton on July 23rd!

Location: Covehead, PEI – Stanhope Place Park Project

Volunteers learned about aquatic ecosystem stewardship. The most important issue was estuary (the place where fresh water from a river, meets salt water from the ocean) rehabilitation, and removing large amounts of an invasive plant called Sea Lettuce that was choking out local fish populations. The Sea Lettuce is experiencing extreme growth due to the excess amounts of nitrates from fertilizers used in nearby farms.

Volunteers also planted 40 native trees along a stream, adding chain fences around each to protect from hungry rabbits. They battled mosquitoes to build 6 large brush silt mats to help prevent shoreline erosion and to protect the stream (and fish habitat) from excessive silt (which is soil running into the water, making in more shallow so that fish are not able to travel freely).

Location: Sarnia, ON – Canatara Park Project

Red Leaf participants learned about removing invasive plant species, and general park clean up. The team worked incredible hard to remove 60 garbage bags full of harmful invasive species (a plant called Fragmites) and 20 garbage bags full of litter polluting the park.

Happy Canada Day to all!  Wishing you a fun, safe and relaxing day with friends and family (and a cold beer or two!).  Here’s to responsible choices.  Cheers Canada.