Charity Day Around the World

Our annual Charity Day campaign of employee giving is experienced differently throughout our many regions. Each region tailors activities to their employees’ interests and cultural values. Charity Day takes place at different times and in different ways all around the world but holds to the central vision C.P. McCormick had when the initiative began in 1941. 

Here’s a snapshot of how different regions participate in Charity Day: 

Asia Pacific Zone: In our APZ region, Charity Day activities span the entire year, differ by country and are focused on community engagement. 

Over the summer in Australia, employees hosted an event in conjunction with “Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea.” Friends, family members, coworkers and members of the community joined together for a tea fundraiser supporting the work of the Australian Cancer Council. 

In India, Charity Day lasted a full month and was inclusive of McCormick India Center and McCormick Kohinoor employees. Activities were both fun and service oriented – including badminton, bake sales, board games and tambola played to raise money for local non-profits. Funds supported Diksha, a school that provides free and quality education to children from low-income families, and ROPIO, an organization that helps in education, exposure, health and skills development of kids. Employees also donated clothing to support Kerala Flood Relief in Partnership with the non-profit Goonj. 

In Thailand, Charity Day activities will happen later this year and will include a young coconut tree planting in partnership with suppliers. The McCormick Simply Asia Food team will also present a contribution to HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand. The princess is well known for her philanthropic work throughout the country, so it is an exciting opportunity for McCormick to help support local communities. 

Europe, Middle East and Africa: Our EMEA region focuses its efforts on communities and charities, including food-related causes, throughout the year.

The UK’s ‘McCommunity’ project is focused on the Purpose-led Performance (PLP) communities objectives.  Initiatives will raise awareness and engage employees in McCormick’s passion for giving and volunteering and will encourage active participation throughout the year.

In recent months, the Passion for Flavour and McCommunity teams at the Littleborough Plant and Haddenham office have hosted a variety of activities. In Haddenham, teams partnered on a cake sale with funds donated to MacMillan Cancer Support. Building off the success of these events, the teams will soon host a Giving Tree for the benefit of a local food bank, a Winter Clothing collection for the homeless, activities for Remembrance Day and a Charity Christmas raffle.

In France, employee giving often benefits the Restaurants du Coeur charity which is a national chain of food banks.  Similarly, our teams in Poland work throughout the year to support the Polish charity Food Banks (Banki Żywności) along with the programme Culinary Strong.  They provide SLOB products (in shelf life but without any usage) and during the Christmas period they have Food Gathering activities.

McCormick South Africa commemorated national Mandela Day and proudly donated new toilets and security fencing for Thembinkosi Learners with Special Educational Needs (LSEN) in Tembisa.

Americas: Fundraising activities in the Americas focus their impact on the communities in which our employees live and work. 

At our Global Headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland, employees were divided into three teams to compete with one another for the highest percentage of employee participation in various events all month long. This year, employees took part in a penny war, raffles, bake sales and even a pet photo competition where winning pictures will be compiled into a calendar and sold to benefit the overall local charitable efforts. Donations from the penny war alone raised $5,611.51! 

In El Salvador, McCormick De Centroamerica (McCASA) visited Escuela Griselda Zeledón, a school for deaf children, where they helped to paint and clean the school. The day of community service is a tradition for McCASA employees who have spent their Charity Day at the school for the past four years. Griselda Zeledón is a school of 155 deaf students from kindergarten to high school and is where McCASA's deaf employees studied.

Acts of community service and charitable giving have been important to McCormick since the early days of the company. We’ll continue to share highlights from different regions throughout the year as charity is not relegated to one day or month of the year – it’s a core principle of McCormick’s culture.