TORONTO, April 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Sunwing announced it is donating over 46,000 meals to 17 communities across Canada as part of a new national partnership with Second Harvest, the largest food rescue organization in Canada.
“We know Canadians are worried about their health and safety, but they shouldn’t have to worry about putting food on the table. Working with an incredible organization like Second Harvest gives us the opportunity to continue to help Canadians even as our operations are temporarily suspended,” said Stephen Hunter, CEO of Sunwing Travel Group. “As a Canadian family-run business, we know what it means to look out for one another during moments of need, which is exactly what this partnership is all about.”
Partnering with Second Harvest will give Sunwing the resources to ensure these meals reach Canadians who need them most during this difficult time. Meals that will be provided through this partnership include smoked meat sandwiches, pizza, sausage rolls and breakfast sandwiches, among other items.
“During this crisis in particular, when so many people are at risk of going hungry, we can’t afford to let food go to waste,” said Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest. “We thank Sunwing for their commitment to Canadians and their meaningful food donation that will help ensure Canadians everywhere have access to healthy food.”
After suspending all flights in response to the spread of COVID-19 and the government-imposed travel restrictions, Sunwing focused its efforts on helping support Canada’s collective pandemic response. The company’s airline employees and destination representatives worked tirelessly, sending over 400 repatriation flights to 45 destinations across the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and Florida and bringing home over 60,000 Canadians, including 3,300 non-Sunwing customers, free of charge. This partnership with Second Harvest, through its program FoodRescue.ca, will allow Sunwing to redirect all unused inflight meals to Canadians in need.
Sunwing’s donation will be provided to food programs in the following communities:
- Kelowna, BC
- Vancouver, BC
- Calgary, AB
- Edmonton, AB
- Saskatoon, SK
- Regina, SK
- Winnipeg, MB
- Thunder Bay, ON
- Ottawa, ON
- Toronto, ON
- Windsor, ON
- Quebec City, QC
- Montreal, QC
- Moncton, NB
- Halifax, NL
- St. John’s, NL
- Gander, NL
About Sunwing
The largest integrated travel company in North America, Sunwing has more flights to the south than any other leisure carrier with convenient direct service from over 33 airports across Canada to more than 45 popular sun destinations across the U.S.A., Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. This scale enables Sunwing to offer customers exclusive deals at top-rated resorts in the most popular vacation destinations as well as cruise packages and seasonal domestic flight service. Sunwing is consistently voted the top leisure airline by travel agents and is the perennial winner of the Consumer Choice Award. Customers can look forward to starting their vacation off with award-winning inflight service, which features a complimentary glass of sparkling wine*, non-alcoholic beverage service; together with a buy on board menu of light meals and snacks, including kids’ choices, the World Famous Original Smoked Meat from the iconic Montreal-based Schwartz’s Deli along with delicious menu options inspired by Food Network Canada Celebrity Chef, Lynn Crawford. Sunwing customers also benefit from the assistance of the company’s own knowledgeable destination representatives, who greet them upon arrival and support them throughout their vacation journey. Sunwing supports the communities where it operates through the Sunwing Foundation, a charitable initiative focused on the support and development of youth and humanitarian aid. Sunwing matches all donations the Foundation receives through its Spare Change Program on board Sunwing Airlines, no administrative fees are collected and 100% of the proceeds go to charity.
*Service may be unavailable on select flights
About Second Harvest
Second Harvest is the largest food rescue organization in Canada and a global thought leader on food recovery. Working across the supply chain – from farm to retail – we capture surplus food before it ends up in landfill and has a negative environmental impact. Since 1985, Second Harvest has redirected more than 155 million pounds of food and prevented over 192 million pounds of greenhouse gas equivalents from entering our atmosphere. Supported by hundreds of corporations, foundations, and the community at large, Second Harvest rescues and delivers enough food to provide over 50,000 meals every day, benefiting a growing network of over 1,500 social service organizations across Canada. Second Harvest also developed FoodRescue.ca, a free online platform that directly connects businesses with surplus, unsold food to local organizations to positively impact our environment and ensure good food gets to people who can use it. With the escalating global pandemic, Second Harvest is leading the Food Rescue Canadian Alliance (FRCA), that brings together government, private and non-profit sectors to ensure food reaches the most vulnerable members of our communities, from coast-to-coast.
https://www.facebook.com/SunwingVacations
https://twitter.com/SunwingVacay
https://www.instagram.com/sunwingvacations
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzjZ-lcuaqBQH7Sq0u3ru7A
For all media enquiries, please contact:
Sunwing
Jacqueline Grossman
Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Communications
Sunwing Travel Group
1-800-387-5602 | media@sunwing.ca
Second Harvest
Lori Nikkel
CEO, Second Harvest
lorin@secondharvest.ca
647-382-0159