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BNY Mellon employees rise to challenge of World Food Day

By Super Admin

From filling 6,000 backpacks with weekend food for children in the US, to cooking at a homeless shelter in Poland to holding a food collection in Brazil, BNY Mellon employees are engaging in more than 100 food-related charity events around the world.

While BNY Mellon, under its five-year-old Community Partnership program, has previously participated in hunger awareness events, in this bigger, focused campaign centered on Oct. 16 World Food Day, the company is doubling its matching contribution and employee participation surged. Five U.S. offices chose to work on behalf of the Stop Hunger Now charity and packed 100,000 ready-to-eat meals.

“We have just been taken aback by our employees’ desire to help others,” said Kathy Charochak, manager of its Community Partnership program, which encourages employees to work year round with charities to improve social and economic conditions in their communities, not exclusively food. In addition to matching funds raised, BNY gives workers comparable time off.

Last year, without this focused effort, the company raised $1.2m for hunger translating to 6m meals. But this food awareness campaign is expected to far exceed that, with final results in by late November. In 2012, BNY’s Community Partnership raised $15m across all its charitable efforts.

“We allowed our employees to use their own creativity and innovation to develop concepts and ideas that would promote food sustainability amongst themselves and their colleagues,” explained Jim McDonald, global director of philanthropy for BNY Mellon, a New York based financial firm that operates in more than 35 countries. “This is really to promote and highlight our Community Partnership program. It is a time for us to get our employees excited about opportunities they may be involved in.”

One in eight people in the world do not have enough food, while nearly 40% of the food in the US goes uneaten, according to data provided by BNY. Through this campaign, BNY hopes to help raise awareness of global food security issues and waste.

In a related program, BNY is partnering with the Atlanta, Ga.-based Canstruction charity to build food-can sculptures in five of its largest cities – an apple in Boston, a rice bowl in Hong Kong, a fish in London, an apple tree in New York and a globe in Pittsburgh. BNY is donating the 17,000 cans of food which will later be given to local charities. It expects the effort will result in 12,000 pounds of food providing more than 9,000 meals.