Campbell Soup Company Kicks Off Make a Difference Week

More than 3,700 Campbell Soup Company employees will volunteer in 70 community projects as part of “Make a Difference Week,” Campbell’s annual week of service. During the week of April 11, employees will volunteer in Campbell’s hometown of Camden, N.J., and across 16 of the company’s other U.S. locations.

“Campbell employees around the world are dedicated to making a difference every day,” says Anthony Sanzio, vice president, communications and public affairs. “This week, thousands of our people will invest their time and talent to help communities thrive.”

Make a Difference Week projects are focused on building and sustaining healthy communities in places where Campbell operates. In Camden, Campbell employees will participate in a variety of projects including: packing meals at the Food Bank of South Jersey, Cathedral Kitchen and Stop Hunger Now; revitalizing city parks with Coopers Ferry Partnership; cooking and serving meals at the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey, New Visions Homeless Day Shelter and the Salvation Army; gleaning produce for donation with the New Jerseu Farmers Against Hunger; and restoring neighborhood homes with St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society, Habitat for Humanity and the Heart of Camden.

Beyond Camden, Campbell is running a kids’ backpack program at 15 of its sites across the country, including its plants in Napoleon, Ohio, Bloomfield, Conn., and Maxton, N.C. The program aims to supply a backpack full of food to youth who are on the National School Lunch Program during the school week, but do not know where their next meal is coming from on the weekend. The backpacks are filled with fresh produce and shelf-stable items that can be easily prepared into full meals. The objective is to provide enough food to sustain one child through the weekend in each backpack. Filled backpacks will be donated to local food banks, elementary schools and recreation centers. Campbell expects to collect more than 3,500 backpacks full of food for children in need.

In recognition of the 4,000 hours that will be volunteered during the week, the Campbell Soup Foundation will distribute approximately $80,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations where Campbell employees will volunteer.

Campbell expanded national “Make a Difference Day” to “Make a Difference Week” nine years ago after a record number of employees expressed interest in volunteering.