Awards / Contest
-
Winners Announced!
-
In association with The Golden Pencil Award, Canadian Grocer launched the 2011 Generation Next Awards to recognize the up-and-coming leaders in the grocery and consumer packaged goods industries.
“NEXT” stands for New Exciting Thinkers, and the awards honored two individuals under 40 who showed qualities such as the capacity to inspire and lead others, as well as a commitment to being involved in the industry and in their community.
To read about the 2011 winners, click here.
-
*************************************************************************
-
–
2nd Annual Community Service Awards!
-
* 2011 Nominations have now closed
* Read about the 2010 winners here (can also see below)
* 2011 winners will be announced in our December/January issue so stay tuned!
Canadian Grocer magazine’s Community Service Awards are here to recognize the outstanding work retailers do to help others, so don’t miss out on your chance to show your commitment and dedication to your community. For more information about the awards, click here.
-
*************************************************************************
-
A Helping Hand – CSA Awards 2010 Winners
Written by Alicia Androich and Rob Gerlsbeck
What’s it take to make a really, really big difference in a community?
That’s the question we asked when we launched the Canadian Grocer Community Service awards last spring. We knew many grocers chip in for the fundraiser and volunteer at events. But we alos know that some of you go the extra mile. And we wanted to recognize those efforts. So we asked you to enter the Community Service Awards (CSA) and tell us about them.
Our judging panel of retail, marketing and philanthropic experts chose 10 finalists that we featured in last month’s issue. Each of these stores stood out for their community contributions. Now we’re pleased to announce the four winning stores.
The winners span the country both geographically and in size. Two of them are chain-owned and happen to be on Vancouver Island: Thrifty Foods in Colwood; and Save-On-Foods, up the coast in Nanaimo. The other two are independents: Colemans in Corner Brook, N.L.; and Swan Valley Co-op in Manitoba–a six-hour drive northwest of Winnipeg.
What sets these stores apart? Offering programs that meet a vital need in their community is a start. But our judges were also impressed by their resilience. Rather than giving back to the community as a one-off thing, our winners make ongoing commitments to helping children, the needy and local health-care facilities.
More importantly, perhaps, these stores create a true sense of community, says James Fraser, a partner at Toronto retail branding agency Hunter Straker and one of our judges. The other judges are George Condon, Canadian Grocer’s consulting editor; Heather Mak, CSR advisor for Canadian Business for Social Responsibility in Toronto; and Ken Wong, associate marketing professor at Queen’s University School of Business in Kingston, Ont.
We’ll announce details of the 2011 Canadian Grocer Community Service Awards soon. In the meantime, you can learn all about this year’s winners here:
Get your guard up
Thrifty Foods in Colwood, B.C.
Last fall, Jason Boudewyn picked up a copy of his local newspaper to learn that children in his community might soon be dodging cars to get to school. A local gravel mining firm that had funded crossing guards at three schools was moving out of town. The local school board wasn’t interested in covering the guards’ costs and city councillors in Colwood, a suburb of Victoria, were getting angry calls from parents. Boudewyn was especially worried about the kids at a school just down the road from his store. The traffic there is unbelievable, he says.
Boudewyn, the manager of the Thrifty Foods in Colwood, picked up the phone and called the mayor: what if his store paid the annual salary and associated costs of the crossing guard for the elementary school near his store? Boudewyn didn’t flinch when he found out the cost to keep the crossing guard employed added up to about $8,000 a year. The mayor, Dave Saunders, was impressed. “Thrifty Foods has really stepped right up to the plate when we most needed it.”
Boudewyn didn’t stop there, though. He challenged other businesses to help out and fund the two other crossing guard positions. Several companies have since come up with money to help out. His swift actions, and their immediate positive impact, wowed our judges.“The store saw an unmet need in the community–the need for crossing guards to keep kids safe–and took the leadership to answer that call for help,” says CSA judge Heather Mak.
And while Boudewyn has moved on to manage another Thrifty Foods store, the new manager in Colwood, Sheryl Bruell, has kept up funding of the crossing guard. “Making sure kids in our community are safe is important,” she says.
Anything but a waste
Swan Valley Co-op in Swan River, Man.
Just because a charitable action has the potential to raise eyebrows, doesn’t mean it’s any less effective or vital to those in need. Swan Valley Coop has a clever way of getting rid of its dated products: it donates most of them to the Swan Valley Food Bank. These include dated bread, and pastry and buns as well as dry and canned goods. The co-op goes so far as to freeze some of its meats, including hot dogs, once they’re dated so they can be passed along to the food bank.
Some 100 families in need benefit from the program every month. What’s more, the efforts save food from needlessly getting tossed. “I love it because it’s a risky program,” remarks CSA judge James Fraser. “This is something people could look at and say, ‘You’re giving away your discards.’ Well, for anyone who knows about date coding and food, that’s not actually the case. They’re doing something incredible that most stores don’t have the courage to do.”
Fellow judge George Condon agrees. “Everybody knows that food can last a lot longer than the best-before dates and yet nobody wants to buy it, so what do you do with it?” He applauds the extra step the co-op has taken by freezing the meat. “That’s smart stuff,” he says.
The co-op’s efforts have also raised awareness for the food bank, which is in Swan River–a town 500 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. To drive the message home, a donation basket for the food bank is permanently parked at the front of the store. “It fits our business and it’s something we can easily help out with,” says food manager, Brad Chambers. “Most of this product would be sold at a reduced cost or destroyed, so it works out well for everyone involved.” And that’s definitely worth raising a couple eyebrows.
Pulling for the community
Save-On-Foods in Nanaimo, B.C.
Two wonderful things happen every July when Save-On-Foods sponsors the Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival. First, tourists from all over pour intotown to witness the colourful armada of dragon boats racing the 500-metre course down Nanaimo Harbour. Second, the three-day event raises funds to purchase equipment for breast cancer treatment at Nanaimo Hospital. Last year the festival raised $80,000, for a total of $444,000 since it launched in 2003.
Save-On-Foods, which has been a sponsor since day one, does more than just slap its name on the festival. The retailer’s three stores in Nanaimo work closely with the organizers of the festival, donate food and cash and put on two huge banquets during the festival that are manned by store employees and their families.
“Everyone has someone who has been touched by cancer, especially breast cancer. So people really want to get involved,” says Kevin Thompson, manager of the Terminal
Park Save-On. Store employees get involved in another way as well: every year they enter two boats into the dragon boat festival.
This is one community effort that’s perfect for the area, says CSA judge Ken Wong. There is a huge Asian population in B.C. and “the dragon boat festival is an event that is important to them and a big deal.” Fraser was impressed with the commitment Save-On has made in helping organize events and volunteer staff: “It is a selfless project and they are creating a sense of community.”
Healthy food…you know, for kids!
Colemans in Corner Brook, N.L.
We’ve all heard the warnings: Canadian kids are getting lumpy. One in four is overweight and childhood obesity has tripled in the past 25 years. The problem is so bad, in fact, that last month doctors at a cardiovascular conference in Montreal noted that blood vessels in some 13-year-olds resemble those normally found in older adults. The message: it won’t be long before heart attacks in 20-somethings become the norm.
Grocery stores can play a big role in getting kids back into shape. That’s why Colemans wowed our judges. For four weeks every September, it runs a program called
Kids Eat Healthy. The aisles are decorated with a healthy eating theme and suppliers get involved, too. But what is truly brilliant about the program is that school kids are invited to tour the store and learn about healthy eating. And staff also head to classrooms to spread a nutritious message. To top it off, Colemans makes a donation to school breakfast programs each year. Since 2005, it’s given $40,000. “Kids eating smart is universally important and one of the major current problems today. It is an absolutely brilliant way to serve the community,” says Condon.
Colemans has gone one step further with another program aimed at getting kids off the couch. Every February it donates around $20,000 to deserving schools, to help buy playground equipment and recreational supplies such as basketballs and snowshoes.
Last year, 13 schools were given $1,500 each. “We want to get kids thinking about eating healthy and we want to get them active,” says vicepresident, Mike Coleman. Mak echoes that sentiment. “I hope this is something that is replicated by stores across the country,” she says.
*************************************************************************
--
-
Canadian Grand Prix Winners Announced!
A cheese sampler that lets consumers try four varieties of cheese, all individually wrapped like cupcakes, was the big winner at the Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards, held Wednesday, June 15 in Toronto.
For the full story and list of winners, click here
-
–
