The United States economy is the richest in the world, with $17.5 trillion in purchasing power. As such, one would assume that American children don’t go hungry. But unfortunately, that’s not the case. Approximately 20% of American children live in poverty, and in 2012, 15.8 million children lacked consistent access to nutritious foods vital to healthy living.
Leading the fight
Determined to lower these numbers, one of North America’s largest packaged food companies, ConAgra Foods, is dedicated to ending child hunger. For more than 20 years, ConAgra Foods and the ConAgra Foods Foundation have led this fight with more than $60 million in monetary donations and 355 million pounds of food donation. In addition, employees volunteered nearly 7,000 hours in 2014 during ConAgra Foods’ Month of Service to help the cause.
Employee pride
In an interview with ConAgra Foods’ director of talent management, KC Bradley, I asked about the corporate culture at the company and its social corporate responsibility initiatives. Immediately her face brightened. “I won’t do it justice,” she said. “It’s important to everyone in the organization. We show it in fundraisers that we do, charities we support, and charitable work that we do throughout the year.”
Long-term planning
Ideally, in the future, KC wants to apply ConAgra Foods’ new cloud-based human capital management solutions provided by SuccessFactors, an SAP Company, to help with community involvement.
Currently, SuccessFactors enables ConAgra Foods’ managers and employees to track work-related development training, relieving the HR department of time-consuming manual tasks. But KC’s vision expands far beyond that.
Her goal is to note employee passions within SuccessFactors profiles and use that information to match employees with charitable volunteer opportunities that meet their interests. She explained that ConAgra Foods “employs very talented people with many skills, and that’s great for the company, but it can be even better for the community.”
Watch below for the full video interview with KC Bradley:
Orange is the color of hunger![Conagra 2.jpg]()
Each year in September, ConAgra Foods employees hold Awareness for Hunger Action Month. Employees through out the entire company, in offices and facilities alike, sport orange gear — even former CEO Gary Rodkin wore an orange suit to work last September. These are very passionate people.
How can you help?
Are you passionate about ending child hunger in America too? Visit www.hungervolunteer.org to find volunteer opportunities near you. You can learn more about getting involved with the ConAgra Foods Foundation here. And remember, it only takes one person to make a difference.
For the full ConAgra Foods Customer Journey with SAP, click here.
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Employees who feel that they can make a difference are good for business. Read more at How Empowering Employees Creates a More Engaged Workforce.