Acclaro Gives Back
At Acclaro, we believe that our livelihood as a company is dependent on more than just our growth and success—it’s firmly rooted in the well-being of the local communities where we live, work and raise our children. In today’s one-world economy, we also realize that global health, education and environmental sustainability impact us in a huge way. So beyond the promotion of our business services, our mission is to contribute to a better quality of life for our fellow community members, in the U.S. and abroad, and in the most tangible ways possible.
Helping to Fight Hunger
One of our priorities in 2011 was to join in the fight against hunger in the New York, Boston and San Francisco metro areas. We strongly believe that no person in this country should live in hunger. After research into charities in the communities where we have a U.S.-based Acclaro office, we chose to support the following causes:
The Food Bank for Westchester
The Food Bank for Westchester distributes food to 227 frontline hunger-relief programs throughout the county and helps feed the nearly 200,000 children, seniors and family members who are hungry or at risk of hunger. They deliver 10 to 12 tons of food a day and more than seven million pounds of food each year to Westchester residents.
Open Table Maynard
Open Table offers weekly community supper programs and pantries in Concord and Maynard, Massachusetts to more than 225 guests, including many children. Beyond providing food resources, they also work to build a community of support for their guests who face many challenges associated with poverty, using discretionary funds when necessary and helping them access a local support network.
The San Francisco Food Bank
The San Francisco Food Bank collects millions of pounds of food from growers, packers, processors, manufacturers, the USDA and grocery stores. The food collected supplies 400+ local nonprofit organizations, including over 200 neighborhood pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, homeless shelters and youth programs. It is also prepared at soup kitchens and packaged into bag lunches for school and summer programs. In all, over 200,000 people are fed by this program each year.
Other Causes That Are Important To Us
In addition to supporting local food banks, Acclaro gives back through in-kind volunteer work and financial contributions to NGOs and charities. Our San Francisco employees have spent time planting trees and making San Francisco a greener place with Friends of the Urban Forest. Our New York office has supported RiverKeeper in Westchester in their efforts to preserve the integrity of the Hudson River and safeguard the drinking water of nine million New York City and Hudson Valley residents.
We’ve donated to Project Open Hand whose mission it is to provide daily, dependable nutrition services to people living with serious illnesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’ve supported the UCSF Medical Center for pancreatic cancer research, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and AVAC. Our global staff regularly participates in fundraising walks and rides for cancer and AIDS awareness.
Our humanitarian efforts have recently taken us outside U.S. borders. We were fortunate to be able to offer computer monitors to the Avenir Plus schoolhouse project in Senegal, where “starvation of the mind” through lack of education is as serious a menace as famine. We also financially backed Rainforest Alliance in their efforts to protect biodiversity and conserve the world’s tropical forests.
Our ongoing goal is to match our funds and volunteer efforts with life-changing organizations to make a difference at home and abroad.
