Molson in the Community

We were proud to join with others today at Toronto City Hall to announce that the Toronto TTC free ride will be happening again this New Years eve in Toronto from midnight to 4am.  Mayor David Miller and Adam Gambrione lead the charge by kicking off the press conference at City Hall. We all then joined together for a photo up in front of the bus…with the headline “Free Ride Survives”. Molson put the challenge out December 5th and members of the Toronto Entertainment District, bar and restaurant owners, businesses and other corporate partners have jumped on board to keep this free ride program on the rails for New Years eve in Toronto. Nick DiDonato from the Liberty Entertainment Group took up the challenge of rallying this divergent group of hospitality industry leaders. Here’s to Responsible Choices and getting home safe for the holidays ! This New Years Eve…take the better way.

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On Friday April 18th, Molson employees at 1 and 33 Carlingview Drive will be participating in the 2008 challenge by Mayor David Miller to do a 20 minute clean up initiative. Molson employees have participated the past two years. In year one, we took people to Centennial Park to bag waste strewn throughout the site and last year we raised a flag on our flag pole at the brewery and cleaned up the curbsides of 33 Carlingview.  This year the Molson team, lead by our President and CEO Kevin Boyce, will be participating in the clean up initiative by cleaning up both sides of the 33 Carlingview Drive in front of our property at 33 Carlingview. More to come…

Molson employees volunteering time at the Framework Foundation’s Toronto Timeraiser on Saturday, April 5, 2008.  From left: Peter Bombaci, Fiona Cunningham, Tonia Hammer, Sebastien Gagner, Kathleen Krisciunas.

‘Wow’ is the only way I can describe how amazing Saturday night at the 5th annual Timeraiser was.  Held at the beautiful Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District, this year’s Toronto event was sold out days before the event date.

What is a Timeraiser you ask? 

A Timeraiser is a charity art auction where rather than bidding money, you bid the number of hours that you are willing to volunteer for an organization of your choice — An AMAZING way to help young Canadians who want to volunteer, connect with different organizations.

This year’s Toronto event was a great success, raising over 11,000 hours – way above the original goal of 7,500.  Everyone was bidding like crazy!  The bid maximum was 150 hours per piece of artwork, and at least 90% of the art pieces reached the maximum amount.

Molson has been a proud sponsor of Timeraiser since its conception 5 years ago.  Some of Molson’s community partners were part of the event too, including The United Way and Meal Exchange.  I decided to bid hours for Meal Exchange, and I can’t wait to start working with such a great organization.

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Interview with Molson employee and Timeraiser volunteer, Peter Bombaci

Watch for upcoming Timeraisers in Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver – www.timeraiser.com for more information.

Proud to play our part…..cheers!

After a great Earth Hour planning meeting this morning, I was itching to get back to my computer to shareMolson’s updated plans.

I’m happy to report that all of Molson’s breweries (Toronto, Montreal, St. John’s, Vancouver and Moncton) will be participating in Earth Hour — one way or another.  From internal and external building lights, to parking lot lights, and to the Molson signs — each brewery will be participating wherever it is safe to do so.  In addition, the breweries and majority of the offices across Canada will shut off lights, computers, fax machines, photocopiers, etc.

In Toronto, the brewery and offices will be putting together an Earth Hour ‘task force’ –  a group of volunteers (Molson employees) who will go around on Friday afternoon (March 28) with a checklist, making sure every desk, work station, office and meeting room is Earth Hour Certified!

More details to come…..two weeks to go! 

Montreal Brewery

Vancouver Brewery

Toronto Brewery

Moncton Brewery

St. John’s Brewery

When something as obviously great and inspiring as EARTH HOUR comes along,you just don’t need to think about it too long, or have a series of meetings and discussions about it. Earth Hour is a wonderful effort that started in Sydney Australia last year and is gaining momentum around the globe. Molson is Proud to Play our Part by taking a look across our brewery network in Canada in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Moncton and St. John’s. Our brewery managers are assessing what actions we can take on March 29th to raise awareness and make a difference in reducing energy use. Molson will also be encouraging our employees from coast to coast to consider what they can do personally on the evening of March 29th to raise awarnress in their communities and make a difference in having an effect on climate change. Jump on board !

Employees of Molson took to the streets of Toronto on Toque Tuesday. We were enthusiastically led by our President and CEO Kevin Boyce, who was selling toques at Toronto City Hall and around Nathan Phillips square with his team. Kevin’s first sale took place 720 am to Anita in front of City Hall in Toronto.

The Toque Tuesday tally is in and the results are phenomenal ! Our goal for Toque Tuesday was to raise $50,000.00. The total tally of funds raised for Raising the Roof’s Toque Tuesday as a result of the Molson Volunteer initiative is $90,557.26. This number is built on the successful efforts of the volunteers selling toques that raised $54,557,26 (exceeded target of $50,000), Molson purchased toques for volunteers $11,000.00, an employee donation of winnings from off track event on Monday night of $4,000.00, Molson Matched employees’ donation $4,000.00, Heineken Partner Brand donation of $10,000.00, The Keg Restaurant donation of $5000.00, Molson Quebec employee’s jersey purchase of $500.00, Molson matched employee’s jersey donation $500.00 and $1000.00 in follow up sales on Wednesday, We are still getting requests from employees and the public on where and how to buy toques. You can go to the Raising the Roof site to purchase on line. Hats off or should I say Toques off to a successful Volunteer event. Molson and our employees…Proud to Play our Part !

Molson employees from across the country will be taking to the streets of Toronto on Toque Tuesday February 5th. Toque Tuesday, a national effort by Raising the Roof, will be supported by the volunteer efforts of Molson employees attending their national conference in Toronto this week.

Molson heritage, history and culture has always involved a commitment to community. Kevin Boyce, President and CEO of Molson in Canada put forth the challenge to have a community activity as part of the national conference. With Feb 5th already designated as Toque Tuesday for Raising the Roof, it was a natural fit for Molson to offer up 1100 toque salespeople to hit the streets of downtown Toronto, to help raise money and combat homelessness.

1100 salespeople will sell thousands of toques in one hour on Toque Tuesday, the largest volunteer effort in Molson’s history.

Molson teamed up with Volunteer Toronto and Volunteer Canada and Raising the Roof to pull this massive deployment of volunteers together to demonstrate what one hour can do in making a difference in our community.

The Molson Community Blog will be covering the events in the early hours of February 5th and we will post the clips of the event throughout the day.

In the meantime…watch locally for opportunities to buy your toque for just $10 on Toque Tuesday and find out where you can at the Raising the Roof website.  We salute Raising the Roof and their national sponsors, GLOBAL, RBC Foundation, Direct Energy, Ecentricartsinc, Grey Worldwide, The Bargains Group, Canadian Traffic Network and Home Depot; for their ongoing efforts to combat homelessness.