Regulatory News:
Sodexo (PARIS:SW)(OTCBB:SDXAY) employees around the world rallied to participate in this year´s STOP Hunger Servathon, its 16th annual program that invites employees to join forces and fight hunger and malnutrition in their communities. Servathon is Sodexo´s largest program under its global STOP Hunger program.
Sodexo, a world leader in Quality of Life services, announced its most successful Servathon to date, with more than 40,000 employees taking part in hunger relief efforts around the world including volunteering and fundraising. Employee volunteers working in partnership with over 425 non-governmental organizations and associations in 35 countries on six continents participated in more than 900 different hunger relief actions.
Sodexo has thus maintained a long-running commitment to the fight against hunger and malnutrition, which affects nearly one billion people around the world. The flagship Servathon program is organized around the actions of employee volunteers in their local communities, including fundraising, serving of meals and collection of food donations. Through their commitment, Sodexo employees enable those suffering from hunger to receive meals and funds to improve their health and nutritional balance.
Many innovative actions were implemented this year such as: offering courses on preparing healthy, balanced meals; sharing Sodexo´s experience with organizations and associations regarding food safety; and increasing awareness around food waste.
Begun in 1996 at the initiative of Sodexo CEO Michel Landel, STOP Hunger contributes to the fight against hunger and malnutrition through four main areas of action: volunteerism, expertise sharing, food donations and fundraising. STOP Hunger is now deployed in 42 countries around the world in which Sodexo operates.
Appendix
Among the Servathon 2012 initiatives:
- Colombia: 240 employees volunteered 1,274 hours in five main cities (Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, and La Jagua, Cesar) and raised a total of €4,046 to help STOP Hunger. Highlights of their activities included nutrition and production workshops, fundraising concerts, food fairs, food bank volunteerism, and community exchange programs.
- Malaysia: Teams mobilized to cook, serve meals, and raise funds for homeless, orphans, and urban poor senior citizens, serving 1,200 people in need. Volunteers from HQ staff and operating units dedicated time to produce and serve meals, distributed 600 goody bags containing food, water, and toiletries, and collected the equivalent of €5,000.
- Australia: Proceeds from Servathon efforts will help provide 14,690 meals to hungry men, women, and children. Creative and competitive fundraising and food collection efforts, including participation in a "Can-a-thon," where employees formed teams and built structures out of canned food items, were coupled with volunteer efforts throughout the country.
- France: A "Less Crumbs, More Plates" promotion brought awareness to bread waste at education sites and thanks to a noticeable decrease in the amount of wasted bread, the difference in wasted bread from one week to the next was converted into a donation (the equivalent of 1,500 meals) to a national hunger relief partner. At Sodexo headquarters in Paris, a food drive competition resulted in the collection of over 1 ton of food (with an additional contribution from 9 suppliers who donated 12 pallets of food).
- India: More than 12 different Servathon activities involving 130 Sodexo employees took place throughout India. In total, 800 beneficiaries were helped by teams that included activities such as food drives (3,800 kilos), volunteer efforts, and fundraising. Food and meal donations to NGOs frequently included visits with children, health and nutrition workshops, sports, art, and games. "Mango Mania," a festival selling mangoes to employees and clients at Sodexo regional offices and Sodexo sites throughout the country generated the equivalent of €1,500 for STOP Hunger.
About Sodexo
Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Life Services
Quality of Life plays an important role in the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations. Based on this conviction, Sodexo acts as the partner of companies and institutions that place a premium on performance and employee wellbeing, as it has since Pierre Bellon founded the company in 1966. Sharing the same passion for service, Sodexo´s 413,000 employees in 80 countries design, manage and deliver an unrivaled array of Quality of Life services. Sodexo has created a new form of service business that contributes to the fulfillment of its employees and the economic, social and environmental development of the communities, regions and countries in which it operates.
Key figures (as of August 31, 2011)
- 16 billion euro consolidated revenue
- 413,000 employees
- 22nd largest employer worldwide
- 80 countries
- 33,400 sites
- 50 million consumers served daily
- 9.3 billion euro market capitalization (as of July 17, 2012)
