Saturday, December 16, 2006
Heinz Japan: Three years and counting food donor to Second Harvest Japan
It was the summer of 2003. On his way home, Paul Mori, a director of Heinz Japan Ltd., saw the words “Food Bank” on a van parked on the side of the road. An Internet search at home led him to the web site for Food Bank Japan (Second Harvest Japan’s name until late 2004), through which he would later contact Executive Director Charles McJilton.
“In my country, America, it’s the norm for big food companies to cooperate with food banks. I had been wondering why such activities didn’t exist in Japan, and I just happened to see the van,” explains Paul. He quickly brought the matter up with management and Heinz Japan decided to start donating excess inventory.
Although the company is best known for its familiar bottles of ketchup and specialty cooking products like its demi-glace sauce, the monthly average of 350 kg of food products Heinz Japan has been donating to Second Harvest Japan includes a wide variety of soups and soup bases, curry, and even frozen products.
“As an example of our situation, we need to provide products to our clients with a certain number of days remaining before expiration, so we have to dispose of items that are still perfectly edible, but are not saleable. Making food with the goal that people will enjoy it only to have that food thrown away is the most painful thing for someone working in a food company,” says Heinz Japan Chairman, President, and CEO Sergio Sousa. The food that used to go to waste now helps people who need it. On top of that, because the company saves on the cost of storage and disposal, “Everyone ends up happy.”
Sousa, who spent a long time working in several countries in Africa, feels deep concern for the problems of food security. Recently, he volunteered with Second Harvest Japan, helping to deliver vegetables, juice, and other items to a children’s care facility. For the future, Sousa would like to set up a program through which all Heinz Japan employees could volunteer once a month.
Heinz Japan Chairman, President, and CEO Sergio Sousa volunteers with 2HJ Resource Coordinator, Yusuke Wada
“In Portugal, where I come from, food banking is very active, as in America. The tax system and the corporate system support the volunteer organizations; the result is two meals per day on the tables of 220,000 people—365 days a year,” says Sousa. “In this, Portugal far exceeds Japan. While Japan rushes to extend a helping hand when a disaster happens overseas, aren’t the problems of the needy here within the country going unnoticed?”
From a happenstance encounter with a parked Second Harvest Japan vehicle to a firm relationship based upon commitment with action, Heinz Japan has demonstrated that food need not go to waste and that you, the individual, and you the company can make all the difference and thereby make this a better world.
Writer: Etsuko Ohara
Link to News story »Monday, November 13, 2006
Show your support with a 2HJ magnet!
Stick it on your car, your fridge at work or home, or anything else made of metal! These ribbon-shaped magnets communicate our shared mission of “Food for All People.”
Available through 2HJ for 1000 yen (small magnet) or 1500 yen (large magnet). You can also pick them up at outlets including Sony Plaza and Autobacs!
Friday, August 11, 2006
Learning from the American food bank experience: You have to start from somewhere
In a two-week trip to the U.S., I visited America’s Second Harvest and Northern Illinois Food Bank in Chicago, and Second Harvest Heartland in St. Paul. My first impression of them was, “Are these non-profits?” They have very excellent offices and efficient organizational structures really like the ones of major corporations. Their operations are huge; for example, Second Harvest Heartland distributed 30,000,000 pounds of foods to agencies and individuals in 2005, while Second Harvest Japan distributed 300,000 pounds of foods to needy people in the same year.
The large scale of their operations means that American food banks need to be as professional and as efficient as possible. And that makes it necessary for them to have highly sophisticated organizations. The more I knew about them, the more worried I got that we could not overcome the gap between them and us. But a lot of people there said to me, “You have to start from somewhere.” That really encouraged me.
Aside from the scale, I was impressed by their attitudes as professionals. For example, America’s Second Harvest, which functions as the networking central office of all food banks in the U.S., has many departments. A woman in the public policy department spoke very enthusiastically about their lobbying in Washington, D.C. Another woman in the agency relations department explained to me how much time and effort they put in to make agency agreement documents and to make affiliate food banks compliant with regulations—only six staff members in her department have to cover all the states and visit every food bank in the U.S. I met many people at the U.S. food banks I visited, and they were all real professionals. They are proud of what they are doing and they all have in their minds same goal: ending hunger.
I was thrilled and inspired by what I saw. I think what we, Second Harvest Japan, need to do from now is:
-Expand our scale
-Improve food safety
-Strengthen our relationships with donors
-Strengthen our relationships with agencies
-Cultivate individual financial donors
-Make receiving food as easy as possible for clients
A couple of people I met at America’s Second Harvest have decided to leave the organization and give their energy and expertise to a recently founded international networking organization called the Global Food Bank Network. They facilitate networking within foreign countries like Argentina, Ghana, Mexico, and South Africa. To join this network, a country must have a national network and elect a food banking representative of the country. I hope we can join them in the near future.
Writer/Photo: Yusuke Wada
Food banking makes economic sense: Lehman Brothers supports the community through 2HJ
Imagine a business opportunity that promises a thirteen-fold return on your investment. As one of the world’s leading investment banks, Lehman Brothers assesses market opportunities every day, but Charles McJilton’s value proposition to feed underserved communities in Tokyo struck us as uniquely compelling. I remember when I first met Charles at his Asakusa headquarters. There I learned first-hand about his passionate drive to distribute even a small percentage of the 6,000 metric tons of food discarded in Tokyo each day to feed some of the city’s nearly half a million people who lack food security. Leveraging on the fact that it costs an average of 100 yen to dispose of a kilogram of food, Charles found that he could save money for companies and at the same time turn a “profit” for society by delivering food valued at up to 13 times his operating costs. For an investment banker like me, that made terrific economic sense.
Second Harvest Japan also met an important aim of Lehman Brothers, which is to support the communities where we work. Lehman Brothers’ philanthropic contributions take many forms: financial support, employee volunteerism, and in-kind donations of knowledge, resources, and contacts. We believe that philanthropy strengthens our relationships with all of our constituents, including people in our communities, our clients and shareholders, while enriching the experience of our employees. In Asia, where the non-profit sector is often nascent and fragmented, we work with many entrepreneurial groups who may have limited resources initially, but who exhibit enormous potential to address Asia’s massive humanitarian needs.
Second Harvest Japan, which has already been successfully helping orphanages, single-parent families and the homeless for many years, proved to be the perfect partner to achieve our philanthropy goals. Our partnership with them is extensive. Many Lehman Brothers employees participate as volunteers with 2HJ, preparing and distributing food to people in need. We offer professional advice and advisory support to help 2HJ grow. Moreover, the Firm solidified its relationship with Second Harvest Japan this year with a grant from The Lehman Brothers Foundation of $91,000 over two years to help the organization reach an even larger population of people.
We look forward to deepening our relationship with Second Harvest Japan. Many of my colleagues and I have truly been inspired by Charles’ mission, and we hope that together we can share his vision with countless others.
Writer: Jim Quismorio
Photo: Lehman Brothers
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