CAA South Central Ontario gives food banks a boost

Staff donates food and funds as part of corporate giving challenge

MARKHAM, ON, Oct. 7 /CNW/ - Staff at CAA South Central Ontario have just completed their first ever corporate challenge by raising 2,600 pounds of food and almost $6,000 for food banks across Ontario. Seven corporate teams participated in a number of fundraising and foodraising events for various charities throughout the summer and fall; one of the teams chose the Ontario Association of Food Banks as their recipient charity.

"CAA South Central Ontario and their staff are great supporters of food banks across the province," Adam Spence , Executive Director of the OAFB. "Their work over the past months demonstrates a genuine commitment to alleviating hunger in Ontario's communities."

CAA set up a Donald Trump-style Apprentice challenge and split its management group into teams. Each team wrote up a business plan and strategy to raise funds for the charity of its choice.

"It all started out as an event designed to introduce our employees to the concept of a high-performance culture while supporting our communities. It soon became much greater than that," said Cindy Hillaby, vice president of human resources for CAA South Central Ontario. "We are very proud our employees took the challenge to heart, raised money and collected food to benefit food banks struggling to support Ontarians in difficult economic times."

The food raised as part of the corporate challenge was delivered to OAFB member food banks in London , Hamilton, Burlington , Kingston, Woodstock, and York Region, just as the food banks gear up for their busy season. The funds raised as part of the campaign will go towards provincial hunger relief efforts.

About Ontario Association of Food Banks

The Ontario Association of Food Banks (OAFB) is a network of over 100 food banks including communities across the province from Ottawa to Windsor, and Niagara Falls to Thunder Bay. For more information about the OAFB, as well as hunger and poverty in Ontario, please visit www.oafb.ca.

About CAA

CAA South Central Ontario is a not-for-profit auto club offering insurance, travel and roadside services. There are more than 1.8 million CAA members in South Central Ontario and over 5 million members in Canada . For more information about CAA South Central Ontario, visit www.caasco.com.

For further information: Adam Spence, Executive Director, Ontario Association of Food Banks, Work: [phone], Mobile: [phone]; Teresa Di Felice, CAA South Central Ontario, Work: [phone], E-mail: [email protected]