The founding partners are joining together to
support Toronto's heroes and those
in need during COVID-19 pandemic
TORONTO, April 24, 2020 /CNW/ - As our community works
together to face the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, founding
partners MLSE, Scotiabank, Tangerine Bank, Rogers and Bell have
teamed up to create a large-scale meal program to support and thank
Toronto's frontline health workers
and their families, and to protect the city's most vulnerable. The
goal of the community meal program, operating out of Scotiabank
Arena, is to prepare and deliver as many as 10,000 meals a day to
local hospital frontline workers and community agencies.
"Scotiabank Arena normally serves as a gathering place for fans
to be entertained and cheer on their teams, but today, as the world
deals with the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, our
arena will serve as a place for people to come together and support
our community when it is most in need," said Michael Friisdahl, President & CEO of MLSE.
"In a time of crisis like we are experiencing, many different needs
emerge, and we saw this as a chance to use our facilities and
engage our people to serve our community. We are grateful to MLSE's
employees, our teams through the Team Toronto Fund and the Maple
Leafs Alumni for their donations and our generous partners for
helping answer the call and providing the resources needed to fill
an important need at this critical time."
Scotiabank Arena has been transformed into Toronto's largest kitchen, with its numerous
food preparation facilities and the arena floor being used to
prepare and assemble the meal packages. MLSE's chefs and food and
beverage staff, along with employees from different departments
within the company, are working together on this program as the
company's sports and entertainment operations are halted due to the
pandemic. In addition, Scotiabank will be opening its kitchen
facilities at Scotia Plaza in Toronto to further support this
initiative.
"We are very proud to be utilizing Scotiabank Arena and the
kitchen facilities in Scotia Plaza to feed the most vulnerable
members of our community, and care for our frontline health workers
as they care for us all," said Scotiabank President and CEO,
Brian Porter. "Our health workers
are the embodiment of our highest values and we are all grateful
for their service and sacrifice, particularly during this period of
acute need."
In addition to the founding partners who initiated the program,
a number of other important supporting partners provided financial
assistance, services or food donations including Sobeys, Sysco,
Maple Lodge Farms, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Maple Leaf Foods, McCain Foods,
Unico/Primo, Mars Wrigley,
Coca-Cola, Weston Foods and Pinnacle Caterers.
"Over the past few weeks, I've seen thousands of Ontario businesses and organizations do their
part to support our frontline health care workers and our most
vulnerable in the fight against COVID-19," said Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario. "By providing hot meals to our
hard-working frontline workers, their families, and those in need,
companies like MLSE, and the many others joining them in this
initiative, are showing that the Ontario spirit is shining brightly during
these unprecedented times. If we look out for one another, we will
get through this crisis."
"I want to thank MLSE and the other partners involved for
stepping up and supporting our frontline healthcare workers, their
families and community organizations across the city. This is a
great initiative by a great organization that is a dedicated member
of the Toronto community," said
Toronto Mayor John Tory. "Businesses across Toronto are working with the not-for-profit
sector and the City government to help those who need it most
during these tough times – that's the right and responsible thing
to do. Thank you to MLSE and their corporate partners for working
together to help our residents get through this emergency."
Second Harvest, the largest food rescue organization in
Canada, along with a network of
local suppliers and sponsors, are supplying fresh ingredients daily
to the MLSE team. The chefs will then turn those food supplies,
along with other food purchased or donated to the program, into
fresh, nutritious, ready-to-heat single-serving meals suitable for
a variety of dietary needs. Meals will then be labelled before
being readied for delivery five days a week. The program is
expected to prepare and deliver hundreds of thousands of meals over
the coming weeks for the network of hospitals and community
agencies.
"To limit the spread of COVID-19 while maintaining social
distancing, it's essential that community food programs now provide
takeaway meals to an increasing number of people in need.
Unfortunately, many of the organizations Second Harvest supports do
not have the kitchens or money necessary to do that– and that gap
puts thousands of vulnerable people at risk," said Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest. "We are
incredibly grateful to MLSE and its partners for helping us close
that gap by mobilizing its world-class venue and chefs, and for the
generosity of so many food donors that are enabling us to provide
thousands of meals every week. We are determined that no one be
left behind."
MLSE worked with food hygiene experts and Toronto Public Health
during the development of the program to ensure the safety of the
meals and of the people who are working to prepare them.
About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is a leading bank in the Americas. Guided by our
purpose: "for every future," we help our customers, their
families and their communities achieve success through a broad
range of advice, products and services, including personal and
commercial banking, wealth management and private banking,
corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team
of approximately 100,000 employees and assets of approximately
$1.2 trillion (as at January 31, 2020), Scotiabank trades on the
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit
http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter
@ScotiabankViews.
About Tangerine Bank
Tangerine Bank is a digital bank
that delivers simplified everyday banking to Canadians. With over 2
million Clients and close to $40
billion in total assets, it's one of Canada's leading digital banks. Tangerine Bank
offers banking that's flexible and accessible, products and
services that are innovative, fair fees and award-winning Client
service. From Savings Accounts to no-fee daily Chequing, Credit
Cards, GICs, RSPs, TFSAs, Mortgages, lending products and
Investment Funds through its subsidiary, Tangerine Investment Funds
Limited, Tangerine Bank has the everyday banking products Canadians
need. With over 1,000 employees in Canada, the bank's presence extends beyond its
website and Mobile Banking app to its Café locations, and 24/7
Contact Centres. Tangerine Bank was launched as ING DIRECT Canada
in 1997. In 2012 Tangerine was acquired by Scotiabank, and operates
independently as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
SOURCE Tangerine