Through a monumental fundraiser effort with a dedicated team, the FCR Thriving Neighbourhoods Foundation – along with funding partners First Capital REIT – delivered in a big way, raising $281,197 during the holiday season! This tremendous effort provides 562,000 meals to Canadian families in need at an often difficult time of year.
This was all possible thanks to the generous donations of FCR Foundation’s staff, family, friends, and corporate partners. Together, they created the opportunity for Second Harvest to rescue and redistribute over 780,000 pounds of food! Diverting that much surplus food from landfills stopped 2.9 million pounds of greenhouse gases from harming our atmosphere. The reduction equates to taking 400 cars off the road for one year. What a spectacular group effort!
The FCR Thriving Neighbourhoods Foundation is an employee-led organization that supports registered charities and philanthropic initiatives that support the local neighbourhoods. Since its inception in 2020, it has been solely focused on food insecurity – one of the foundation’s four main pillars, alongside mental health, youth initiatives, and social justice.
The foundation set an initial goal of $50,000 and encouraged staff, their friends and family, as well as corporate partners, to donate funds through an online portal. FCR then matched all employee donations, dollar for dollar, doubling the support for Second Harvest.
FCR kicked off the charitable initiative with an employee-led fundraising walk through seven urban neighbourhoods across Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. They also offered a virtual attendance option to allow for all staff to participate and join in on the cross-country event.
By October’s end, the staff fundraising had come to a close, yet FCR continued receiving corporate donations through November and December. The end result far exceeded their initial goal and expectations!
“We are really proud of this fundraising campaign and being able to provide over 560,000 meals to people across Canada. With this just being our second year of the foundation, we have our sights set on continuing to grow these initiatives year after year.”
Meaghan Bach, co-chair of the FCR Thriving Neighbourhoods Foundation
“Generally, we do not receive any funding from the government and rely solely on the generosity of individual and corporate donors like FCR”, said Corey Smith, Former Vice President, Philanthropy at Second Harvest. “We truly could not do what we do without companies like FCR!”
Check out the “The Explainer” podcast below, where the host interviews Melissa Campisi and Meaghan Bach, co-chairs of the FCR Thriving Neighbourhoods Foundation, as well as Corey Smith, Former VP of Philanthropy at Second Harvest.
