Diageo North America Spreads Cheer Across the U.S. and Canada
Employees in Multiple Locations Brighten Holidays for Respective Communities
NORWALK, Conn., December 22, 2015 /3BL Media/ – Employees from Diageo North America are giving back this holiday season by participating in a variety of volunteer programs and fundraising efforts across a number of the company’s locations. Initiatives span communities in Connecticut (home to Diageo’s North American headquarters), Kentucky, Illinois, New York and Canada, and include donating gifts, supplies and funds to families in need, volunteering to provide sober rides to holiday partygoers, and hosting festivities for local families. Together, these employees have partnered with more than 16 different charitable organizations in their local communities to spread some cheer this holiday season.
Some of the charitable initiatives in North America include:
Connecticut:
- Diageo 100: The flagship event for the company in Connecticut is its annual “Diageo 100” program, during which more than 100 employees host a holiday party for hundreds of local children. This year, Diageo hosted its ninth annual Diageo 100 Children’s Holiday Party at the Stepping Stones Children’s Museum in Norwalk, and the event benefited four local charities.
- Open Door Shelter: The North American legal team sponsored families at risk through the Open Door Shelter, located in Norwalk.
- Person-to-Person: Employees joined forces with long-time Diageo partner and local agency Person-to-Person for a coat drive, and to volunteer at a “pop-up toy store.” Volunteers assisted in setting up and staffing the store, which is a place where families in need can “shop” for a free gift and book for their child.
- Salvation Army: Norwalk’s Corporate Relations team participated in the Salvation Army’s “Adopt a Family” program, spending time shopping and wrapping gifts for underprivileged families.
- Stop Hunger Now: A group of marketing and finance employees donated their time and effort to Stop Hunger Now to package approximately 10,500 meals that will be shipped throughout the world to support school feeding programs, orphanages, and crisis relief.
- Toys for Tots: For the sixteenth consecutive year, Diageo employees in Norwalk hosted an annual Toys for Tots drive to provide local children with gifts for the holidays. Through the years Diageo employees have donated thousands of toys.
- Bridgeport Rescue Mission: Norwalk’s Demand Planning Team donated “Bedtime Bags,” which included books, stuffed animals, toothbrushes and toothpaste, for underprivileged children in the Bridgeport area.
Kentucky:
- Shively Area Ministries: Employees in Louisville joined with Shively Area Ministries, which helps people living in the zip code in which Diageo’s Stitzel-Weller distillery is located. The group participated in a food drive and also donated funds to support people in need with their utility bills over the holidays so they would be able to purchase gifts for their own families.
Illinois:
- Toys for Tots: Employees at the Plainfield site donated more than $7,000 worth of toys to the local Will County Toys for Tots drive.
- United Way: The Plainfield team held their 11th annual United Way fundraising campaign, comprised of a variety of events including silent auctions, a barbeque and a golf outing. This year the group was able to donate more than $28,000 to the organization.
New York:
- Food Bank for New York City: The New York chapter of Diageo’s Spirited Women’s Network Employee Resource Group hosted a fundraiser for the Food Bank for New York City. As a result the group more than doubled their initial fundraising goal, and was able to fund more than 6,000 meals.
Canada:
- Amherstburg Food and Fellowship Mission: Employees at Diageo’s site in Amherstburg, Ontario, adopted a family from the local Amherstburg Food & Fellowship Mission, and sponsored the family’s holiday gifts.
- Daily Bread Food Bank: Employees in Toronto rolled up their sleeves on three different occasions this season to help prepare nutritious meals and pack food items for thousands of families at local shelters, hostels and community centers across Greater Toronto.
- Dixon Hall Neighborhood Services: In addition to a $5,000 monetary donation, Toronto employees provided the Housing and Homelessness services division of the agency with $3,000 worth of warm coats and boots.
- Evergreen Basic Needs: Employees in Gimli, Manitoba, collected donations for Evergreen Basic Needs, a local organization that distributes clothing, housewares, etc. to underprivileged families in the region. The Gimli Social Committee has also been raising money for the organization throughout the year and was able to raise $6,000 to donate to the organization during the holidays.
- Operation Red Nose: Employees in Gimli volunteered to offer safe rides home to partygoers by joining Operation Red Nose, an organization that offers free rides during the holiday season to those who have been consuming alcohol.
- Streets to Homes: The team in Toronto donated more than $1,000 worth of toiletries to develop welcome home kits for men and women who are transitioning to their own homes, after having been homeless.
“It’s truly inspiring to see how much Diageo employees are giving back to the communities where they work and live during this holiday season, and also throughout the entire year,” said Guy Smith, Executive Vice President, Diageo North America. “We extend a big thank you to our employees for their generosity of heart and time, and also our admiration and appreciation to the numerous organizations they have partnered with to help those less fortunate.”
About Diageo
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits, beer and wine categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan’s whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray, Guinness, and Beaulieu Vineyard and Sterling Vineyards wines.
Diageo is a global company, and our products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (DGE) and the New York Stock Exchange (DEO). For more information about Diageo, our people, our brands, and performance, visit us at www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo’s global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice.
Follow us on Twitter for news and information about Diageo North America: @Diageo_NA.
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