The Tribune

Gavin Watchorn launches AML Foods’ major appeal aimed at helping those facing hunger and lack of quality food during the holiday season

IT’S THE middle of November and for many, this month is typically the calm before the busy holiday season.

For us at AML Foods Limited, November signals the time when planning shifts to execution across our retail brands and fast food outlets.

This year, as we prepare to meet customers’ expectations and our own internal benchmarks, there is a specific target number we are challenging ourselves and our stakeholders to meet - feeding 5,000 families who may otherwise be unable to afford a traditional Christmas meal.

Together with our media partners at The Tribune and Radio House, we are appealing to the community - corporate sponsors and individual citizens - to join us between November 14 and December 20 to make our goal to feed 5,000 families in New Providence and Grand Bahama a reality. Starting today, at our retail outlets in New Providence (Solomon’s Fresh Market at Old Fort Bay and Harbour Bay and Solomon’s Super Center) and in Grand Bahama (Solomon’s Lucaya and Queen’s Highway), customers and corporations can purchase meal packages for those in need as a part of the ‘Help Feed Five Thousand Families’ initiative. We are working with the Bahamas Feeding Network, Hands For Hunger, The Salvation Army as well as the Bahamas Red Cross to distribute the food packages through their existing channels.

To get the ball rolling, we are donating $20,000. Each package is valued at $40 but any donation is appreciated and no amount is too small.

The ‘Help Feed Five Thousand Families’ project fits into AML’s commitment to hunger prevention and healthy living. We are doing this because we believe that businesses can work together to improve lives. Our entire team rallies around a common notion that we can and should make a positive impact on the communities connected to our brands.

As a company, we envision a day when individuals living in the Bahamas will no longer have to be concerned about where their next meal is coming from to feed their families, their children. To this end we are focused on ensuring that a greater number of persons have access to quality foods that they want and need.

Our culture of giving goes beyond simple cheque presentations. We seek to engage our entire team in the process, providing opportunities for them to serve their communities. Every AML employee is encouraged to offer a minimum of eight hours per year to a worthy cause. These are paid hours for our team to spend making an impact beyond their day-to-day job function. In the past year, a number of our associates took advantage of this opportunity to help out during not only Hurricane Joaquin, but Matthew as well.

As we look back on 2016, I am proud to say that as a company we have succeeded in achieving major elements of our corporate social responsibility plan. Our annual health fairs and healthy living forums continue to grow and we completed a successful Fun, Run Walk with Doctors Hospital. We also made an impact in youth empowerment through various donations to literacy and sports. On Earth Day, through our Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) environment promotion, we distributed 15,000 free reusable bags to our customers.

Our biggest outreach commitment for the year centred on our hunger prevention platform and a pledge of $100,000 over the next three years to support the Bahamas Feeding Network. This year, thus far, we have donated more than $50,000 to various feeding programmes.

We believe that the ‘Help Feed Five Thousand Families’ project is a great way to end 2016, giving families a chance to gather together around a meal to celebrate the Christmas holidays and the traditions that bind us together.

To donate you can visit any of our Solomon’s and Solomon’s Fresh Market locations in New Providence or Grand Bahama and drop an item from the shopping list into the bins available in-store or donate at the register. So if you can donate one item, one meal or 100 meals we hope that you will join us to make this mission possible.

Gavin Watchorn is the President and CEO, AML Foods Ltd