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A woman collects a month’s worth of food at the Savane Resettlement Centre in Mozambique.
Giving Back

Sealed Air Supports COVID-19 Relief Efforts

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues across the globe, Sealed Air is helping to address critical humanitarian needs with financial and in-kind support. Among other things, the company’s donations will be used to provide food to vulnerable populations across the world and cover basic needs for citizens in the city where Sealed Air is headquartered.    

Now more than ever, corporate-nonprofit partnerships are needed to help struggling communities. Sealed Air aims to leverage its expertise in sustainability, food safety, food security, and technology for this purpose.   

“Sealed Air’s mission to protect, solve critical packaging challenges, and leave our world better than we found it is especially relevant now,” said Susan Edwards, Sealed Air’s Chief Human Resources Officer. “As a manufacturer of protective food packaging, for decades Sealed Air has led collaborations with partners worldwide to address food waste and security. During this devastating pandemic, it’s our hope that we can help increase the impact made by dedicated organizations that are providing assistance.”   

 

Global Response 

Reflective of its longstanding commitment to supporting organizations reducing food waste and promoting responsible food consumption and production, Sealed Air is supporting the following organizations’ COVID-19 efforts: 

Update: June 3, 2021

In response to the worsening COVID-19 crises in India and Brazil, which has reached catastrophic levels, Sealed Air is providing additional funding to Gastromotiva (Brazil) and Goonj (India) to support the nonprofit organizations in the provision and delivery of food, medical kits, and other essential goods during the pandemic.

Additionally, Sealed Air employees across the globe are contributing to this effort through a matching gifts campaign, which will multiply Sealed Air's collective impact in these hardest-hit regions.

 

World Food Program USA

In addition to providing last-mile delivery of critical supplies for all United Nations agencies, World Food Program USA is offering lifesaving support in response to the COVID-19 crisis such as: 

  • Expanding programs to address poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition  
  • Sustaining food production, trade, distribution and consumption 
  • Supporting national health systems through improved supply chains, data collection and targeted nutrition services for the most vulnerable 
  • Providing alternatives to school meals in places where those meals are not currently available   

Gastromotiva

While working to reduce food waste, the Brazilian nonprofit Gastromotiva provides vocational kitchen training, entrepreneurial classes and nutrition education to create opportunities for those living in disadvantaged communities. In response to COVID-19, Gastromotiva is focusing on hunger and ensuring an income for foodservice workers through its Solidarity Kitchens project. The project brings together students, alumni, and partners to produce meals using a social entrepreneurship model involving the provision of food supplies and the payment of wages and operating costs. Gastromotiva delivers the food and the packaging and helps operate meal distribution and logistics.

 

Local Response

FareShare

FareShare tackles hunger and food waste in the United Kingdom by collecting quality surplus food that would otherwise go to waste and redistributing it to charity and community groups, which turn it into meals. During the COVID-19 crisis, FareShare is delivering more food to front-line organizations providing a lifeline to those most at risk. 

Banco Alimentare (Food Bank)

To reduce food waste, Banco Alimentare in Italy recovers surplus from the agri-food supply chain, commercial caterers, and other sources and distributes it to charitable organizations that help individuals and families in need. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the nonprofit organization is maintaining existing food delivery programs for those hit by pandemic-related shortages.

United Way of Central Carolinas/Foundation for the Carolinas

Administered by United Way of Central Carolinas and Foundation for the Carolinas, the COVID-19 Response Fund supports a range of nonprofits in Charlotte, North Carolina where Sealed Air is headquartered. Funds are being used to provide immediate basic needs for people in the Charlotte region most affected by the pandemic – those who contract the disease as well as those who are economically impacted by it.

Rose Colored Glasses International

Rose Colored Glasses International provides education assistance to low-income, urban children in the Philippines. During the COVID-19 crisis, the organization is supplying food and medical assistance to low-income families and distributing grocery packs to health-care workers. 

Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam

Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam (PERTIWI) is a charitable organization dedicated to addressing the welfare and needs of women and children in Malaysia. COVID-19 relief efforts are funding one of the group’s core projects, the PERTIWI Soup Kitchen, which provides hunger aid to those suffering from food insecurity. 

Fundacja Rozwoju Przedsiebiorczosci Spolecznej (Foundation for the Development of Social Enterprise)

Based in Poland, Fundacja Rozwoju Przedsiebiorczosci Spoleczne supports the creation of social cooperatives and implements projects to help people returning to the labor market. To provide aid during the pandemic, the organization is cooking and delivering meals for medical staffs at hospitals.

Africa Food for Thought

Africa Food for Thought helps to provide food security to children in South Africa through a variety of programs. As the impacts of the pandemic continue, the organization is providing food and hygiene supplies to underprivileged families.

Goonj

Goonj is a nonprofit headquartered in India undertaking disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and community development. During the pandemic, Goonj is providing food rations and other essentials to disadvantaged families. 

La Fédération Française des Banques Alimentaires (The French Federation of Food Banks)

La Fédération Française des Banques Alimentaires has served as the leading food-aid network in France for more than 35 years. It collects food from industry sources for distribution to partners that provide it to people in need. To prevent food waste, the organization is recovering and redistributing food that would otherwise be destroyed during the pandemic.   

 

In-Kind Response 

Leaving our world better than we found it starts with Sealed Air’s hard-working teams across the globe who are giving their time and talent to help solve COVID-19 challenges:

  • In Brazil, the CRYOVAC® brand studio arts team at Sealed Air’s facility in Jaguariuna is producing face shields for health-care providers. The shields are produced on a 3D printer and donated to the local hospital.   
  • Sealed Air’s packaging application center in Olesa de Montserrat, Spain offered machinery and plastic film to support local emergency mask production efforts. 
  • From its Passirana di Rho facility in Italy, Sealed Air donated rolls of plastic film to the local Red Cross to assist with the organization's sanitization procedures. 
  • Members of the Innovation and Development team at Sealed Air’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina not only fabricated face shields and headbands for local health-care providers but also redesigned the headband for comfortability.

About the Author


Pam Davis

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Pam Davis
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Staff Writer
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Pam Davis is the Global Impact Content & Reporting Lead at Sealed Air.