Lunch Money Day Stories

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Lunch Money Day broke two important records this year: the sponsorship of the event exceeded its goal by $15,000, and the number of companies and schools running campaigns was an unprecedented 226.

Mackenzie Financial Charitable Foundation returned as the Presenting Sponsor, and were pleased to be such a large part of the campaign. "Turning from your wallet to your own fridge for one day is easy for many and tremendously helpful for thousands across Toronto," said Brad Offman, President of Mackenzie Financial Charitable Foundation. "Second Harvest finds creative ways to turn $5 into meals for 10 people. We are truly honoured to be working with one of our community's most innovative charitable organizations."

Supporting Sponsors were Rogers, Biovail, Maple Leaf Foods, McCain, and Swanson Dinners. Media Sponsors are Citytv, Metagraphic Network, Outdoor Broadcast Network, Purolator, and Starbucks.

Another milestone was that all four major banks (BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank and TD) ran campaigns. At CIBC, one of the senior staff members offered to match whatever funds were raised by his department. Hearing of that challenge, another employee offered to match those funds again, which resulted in an overall donation of $8,790 for Second Harvest. TD ran a tremendous campaign, which included selling raffle tickets, offering employees a “dress-down week” if they donated, a peer-to-peer collection committee which sought out people who would donate more than $500. Their hard work paid off: they raised $26,899.57! 

Starbucks, in addition to donating thousands of dollars of gift cards as incentives for companies running campaigns, donated a portion of the sale of their delicious turkey/havarti sandwiches on Lunch Money Day.

Sodexo is a company that provides food service for hospitals, universities, corporations, and many other businesses. Their contribution included a fun waffle breakfast at York University, which resulted in an overall donation of almost $800 and a whole lot of happy customers! 

Our friends at the Calphalon Culinary Center raised close to $1,000 with their annual Second Harvest lunch. Guests were treated to a delicious pasta lunch for a suggested donation of $5. It was a great way to warm up on a cold wintry day!

This year’s lucky raffle winners were Faye LeRoy (first prize), Danielle Sneyd (second prize), Lisa Gibson (third prize), and Deborah Lewis (fourth prize).

Barbara Tobias an employee at Bell Temple, a law firm, has been running a campaign there for a number of years. As Barbara says, “Glad we can support Second Harvest each year and raise awareness - the third week in February has now become an office tradition.  Look forward to doing it again next year.”  

Jill Yetman is another long-time Second Harvest supporter. She has worked at a number of companies, and always ensures that her new employer runs a Lunch Money Day campaign. Her team at Environics Communications, Inc. raised $1022 at their Eat, Greet and Compete event, which encouraged participants to don their oven mitts, dust off a favourite recipe that’s earned accolades from friends and family and compete in a deliciously fun lunch.

Each ECI chef entered their dish for a chance to win bragging rights as the Jamie Oliver of ECI. The event not only allowed the team to visit with colleagues old and new but also delight their taste buds in fabulous foods from chocolate-peanut butter strawberries to pear and arugula pizza!

Anyone contributing a dish was asked to donate $5 and non-Martha Steward-like folks were asked to give $10. Although everyone was a winner, people voted for their favourite dish and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes were awarded.  A generous door prize of Toronto Maple Leaf tickets was also donated to encourage overall participation.

ECI’s focus on “green” also meant that lunch-goers arrived with a reusable fork & plate in hand and recipes were uploaded to a shared drive so delectable dishes could be shared and a digital ECI cookbook could be created.  

For a second year, Scott Werry, a law clerk at Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP, wowed his colleagues with his culinary skills by creating a delicious gourmet lunch. Scott’s gourmet delicacies have become a much anticipated yearly LMD tradition.

John Rowell has led the students at Northern Secondary School through another successful LMD campaign. The school has been running an LMD campaign since 2001 and with John getting the students involved at a young age he will ensure that they will become socially conscious individuals!