GAITHERSBURG, Md., July 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sodexho and its
independent charitable organization, the Sodexho Foundation, are pleased to
announce this year's Heroes of Everyday Life. Nine men and women were honored
for their personal commitments to fighting hunger at the Foundation's third
annual dinner, held in Washington, DC last month. In addition, a $5,000
donation was made in each person's name to the hunger charity of their choice.
"We are very proud of the hard work, dedication, creativity, and
leadership these men and women have demonstrated," said Michel Landel,
president and CEO of Sodexho. "They truly are heroes and embody Sodexho's
spirit of service and commitment to social responsibility."
This year's Heroes of Everyday Life are:
Terry Bomkamp
Rockford, IL
Terry Bomkamp has helped hundreds of men, women and children from Muncie,
IN to Rockford, IL. In Muncie, he founded the Hoosier Bounty food rescue
program, which works with local chefs and restaurants to collect and
distribute prepared and perishable foods. In Rockford, he supports the Hunger
Connection, a local food bank, which in turn supports MELD (a homeless shelter
for pregnant women and teen mothers), WAVE (a domestic violence emergency
shelter), ARC (an adult drug addiction recovery program), and the Rockford
Boys and Girls Club.
Joanne Booth
Oakland, ME
Joanne Booth is committed to fighting hunger and educating community
members about how they can help make a difference. In 1995, Booth coordinated
an annual bake-off where boys and girls from local Scout troops peeled apples
and rolled dough for 125 pies served during a Thanksgiving dinner for 800
needy people in Oakland. She also developed a program with Oakland's local
Head Start organization to teach parents how to prepare nutritious meals on a
limited income. And, throughout the year, she takes groups of students to
local homeless shelters where they learn to purchase ingredients and prepare
meals for residents.
Albert Fagins
Mission Viejo, CA
For the past five years, Albert Fagins has spent every Tuesday night
feeding the homeless of Santa Ana as part of the Homeless Ministry Outreach
program started by Living Waters Christian Church. There, he helps prepare
and serve meals to residents, often taking the time to socialize with them,
offering words of understanding and encouragement. On weekends, Fagins also
travels with another church group to help repair other churches and outreach
centers in the area.
Joe Fleming
Downingtown, PA
As a Board member of the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank, Joe Fleming
takes raising money for hunger-related causes seriously. Recently, he
coordinated a team of 45 Sodexho chefs and managers in the Philadelphia area
to sponsor a 20th anniversary gala, raising $93,000. He also supports Check-
Out Hunger, which raised more than $200,000. Fleming takes fighting hunger
very seriously, too. As a Sodexho manager, he requires every member of his
team to participate in at least one hunger-related initiative as part of their
yearly performance review.
Al Philpot
Princeton, NJ
Al Philpot supports many hunger relief initiatives in the Princeton area
throughout the year. He is a member of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey
planning committee, and a staunch supporter of Sodexho's annual Servathon
efforts. He also organizes the annual Blue Jean Ball every year, which raises
more than $250,000 for the food bank.
Eric Rappaport, CEC
Lehigh Valley, PA
Eric Rappaport, a member of the Second Harvest Food Bank's advisory board
in the Lehigh Valley, has been involved in hunger-relief efforts for more than
four years, hosting fundraisers and sponsoring community events. After the
food bank received 12,000 pounds of fresh/frozen salmon, he quickly planned a
1,000-family fish feast. He also developed Salmon Savvy, a cook book and
training guide for soup kitchens, rehabilitation centers, emergency pantries,
and other agencies on how to properly distribute and prepare the fish using
readily available products.
Mary Rohde
Chattanooga, TN
Mary Rohde is an expert at turning a seemingly ordinary food drive into
the premiere event of the season. She prints and sells t-shirts, dreams up
contests to create competition among local Sodexho and Erlanger employees to
generate donations, then brings in the local media to increase community
awareness. The result? Collecting, in just one week, more than 65,000 pounds
of food for the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.
Robert Schmitz
Boston, MA
Ten years ago, Robert Schmitz founded a program that brings meals to the
homeless on Thanksgiving. Last year, the program provided meals to more than
250 people in need. He is also a "regular" at Pine Street Inn, an emergency
shelter for homeless men and women. He prepares meals and organizes
fundraisers-basically anything he can do to make a difference in the lives of
people who are at risk of going hungry or without shelter.
James Winkler
Atlanta, GA
Last year, James Winkler was honored for his efforts to fight hunger by
the Atlanta Business Forum. He is involved in many initiatives and organizes
volunteers to sort more than 13,000 pounds of food for distribution to area
homeless shelters, and works with Project Rescue to prepare and distribute
meals to the elderly and disabled. Winkler was also instrumental in
coordinating the Hosea Williams Thanksgiving Dinner for the homeless in 2000,
securing a truck to deliver 500 turkeys to needy Atlanta residents.
Sodexho employees are selected as Heroes of Everyday Life based on the
demonstrated impact of their efforts -- the number of people affected, the
degree they are positively influenced, and whether or not they motivate others
to join the fight against hunger, are innovative, and contain an educational
component.
"Freedom from hunger is a basic human right and is essential to improving
the quality of daily life," said Landel. "Our commitment to this end goes
well beyond the services we provide, which is why we are the first company in
our industry to endorse the Global Sullivan Principles for Social
Responsibility."
The Sodexho Foundation is an independent charitable organization
supporting hunger-related initiatives that focus on eliminating the root
causes of hunger in the U.S. The Foundation receives the majority of its
funding from Sodexho, with additional financial support provided by Sodexho
employees (whose donations are matched dollar for dollar by the company), as
well as clients, customers and vendor-sponsored retail promotions. The
company pays all administrative costs of the foundation to ensure that all
money raised is directed to those in need.
Sodexho is the leading provider of food and facilities management in the
U.S. and Canada, with $4.9 billion in annual sales. Sodexho offers innovative
outsourcing solutions in food service, housekeeping, grounds keeping, plant
operations and maintenance, asset and materials management, and laundry
services to corporations, health care and long term care facilities,
retirement centers, schools, college campuses, military and remote sites.
Headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD, the company has 130,000 employees at more
than 6,000 locations across North America. Sodexho is a proud endorser of the
Global Sullivan Principles for Corporate Responsibility. Learn more about
these principles at http://www.globalsullivanprinciples.org .
SOURCE Sodexho
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Related links:
http://www.sodexhoUSA.com
http://www.globalsullivanprinciples.org
CONTACT:
Jeanette Jurkiewicz of Sodexho,
+1-301-987-4324, or jjurkiewicz@sodexhoUSA.com
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