Sodexo volunteers out in force to support SSAFA

Through volunteering activities, Sodexo employees are supporting SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, which provides valuable aid to service personnel, veterans and their families.

Earlier this month Sodexo’s Stop Hunger Foundation arranged volunteering opportunities with long-standing charity partner, SSAFA, at seven locations across the UK and Cyprus for Sodexo’s employees and for volunteers from its supply partners and client organisations.

During National Volunteers Week (3-9 June), around 92 volunteers put in 525 hours support through a volunteering drive organised between SSAFA and Sodexo Stop Hunger.  The volunteers helped with gardening, wellbeing workshops, painting, and handing out leaflets. Around 780 SSAFA members benefitted from the help of the volunteers in the one week alone.

In addition to this special volunteering drive around 70 Sodexo employees will be participating in SSAFA’s 13 Bridges Challenge, an annual fundraising event held in London covering the city’s iconic bridges on 29 June, Armed Forces Day. Some participants will be taking part in the 10-mile walk virtually, however all will be raising valuable funds for SSAFA.

Gareth John, European Director of Sodexo Legal Affairs and Chair of the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation said: “Sadly veterans are more likely to face food insecurity. This is why Stop Hunger has been a partner to SSAFA since 2008, supporting the provision of urgent welfare – financial, practical and emotional – to those most in need from the armed forces community, in particular veterans and their families through SSAFA’s Stop Hunger Homelessness Fund. Volunteering plays an important role in our partnership with SSAFA so it was an honour to provide opportunities for our colleagues, clients and suppliers for our annual volunteering drive.”

Last year marked a milestone in the partnership with the total funding donated from Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation to SSAFA reaching £500,000. The annual donation from the Stop Hunger Foundation supports SSAFA’s Homelessness Fund, providing funding for the urgent welfare provision to those most in need from the armed forces community, particularly veterans and their families across all three services. Grants from the fund are also a vital resource for volunteer caseworkers to find a swift resolution to urgent cases.

Sir Andrew Gregory, CEO of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity said: “SSAFA is delighted to maintain its long-standing relationship with Sodexo and the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation, a relationship that makes a real and practical difference to those in our Armed Forces community who need support. And that holistic help that provides financial assistance to SSAFA’s Homelessness Fund, is as vital today as it has ever been.”
 
Sodexo’s volunteering programme is part of its commitment to fighting food insecurity both in the UK and Ireland as well as across the globe.

Working with national and local charity partners Sodexo Stop Hunger unites and mobilises changemakers engaging its employees in a wide range of volunteering opportunities. The Foundation’s work goes beyond immediate food aid activities, it is focused on changing lives by addressing the root causes of food insecurity with a focus on women empowerment.

Sodexo is the founding partner of the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation. In the UK & Ireland, the Foundation’s (a UK registered charity) mission is to act sustainably to fight food insecurity and complement Sodexo’s Social Impact pledge.