With a purpose to connect people with the products and experiences that enrich their lives, Advantage Solutions continued to deepen community impact efforts in 2023, with plans to expand in 2024. Core to these efforts is working with brands and stores to put food and other necessities on shelves and on tables every day.
But its impact goes beyond business. Advantage for years has been actively engaged in the communities where its team members work and live, and the company concentrated its efforts in 2023 on the fight against hunger.
“We know lives are enriched when people experience reliable comfort and boundless opportunities for growth,” says Rebecca Grey, vice president of Belonging and Impact at Advantage. “Whether we’re volunteering our time or making charitable contributions, we believe addressing inequities in our communities and creating access to opportunities can truly be transformative.”
Here are just a few highlights of Advantage’s 2023 campaign:
Feeding America campaign
Since 2012, Advantage has partnered with Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, to help feed Americans who are food-insecure — including one in seven adults and one in five children who face hunger. In 2023, our teammate contributions and company match translated into more than 1.1 million meals for families facing food insecurity.
“We are proud to continue our fundraising and volunteer efforts in partnership with Feeding America,” says Advantage’s Coral Rose, who leads the initiative alongside Soaliha Lakhani, Megan Elhaj, Taryn Vorndran and Carla Killian. “Our Advantage teammates continue to lead the way serving with heart and making a positive difference in our local communities.”
In recognition of Hunger Action Month in September, for instance, Advantage’s Waypoint team held Feeding America food bank volunteer events across the country, coordinating 28 events where more than 250 volunteers combined to log 750 hours of service and helped distribute 180,000 meals.
Two months later, members of the company’s leadership team, including CEO Dave Peacock, volunteered at the Community Kitchen & Pantry in West Harlem, part of Food Bank For New York City and the Feeding America network. The team assembled hundreds of bags and boxes of fresh food that were distributed to partner charities throughout New York City in the weeks prior to the holidays.
“As I watched my team fill boxes and bags of food, and I filled bags of produce myself, I realized each bag represented a family, and each family a story,” says Peacock. “For those of us who worked on distribution, our team interacted with every person. Many walked in sharing personal stories — from unemployment to uncertainty — but all walked away expressing gratitude.
“Addressing food insecurity is a key focus for Advantage, and serving the communities where we live and work is a critical part of who we are.”
Team effort
Advantage teammates from across the company — and the country — also took part in dozens of additional campaigns against food insecurity in 2023. For instance, in November members of Advantage’s R2 Fresh Solutions team joined with sausage brand Double R, the Food Lion grocery chain and the Harvest Hope food bank to distribute 30,000 pounds of donated sausage along with fresh fruit and vegetables, dry staples and baked goods to hundreds of households in the Greenville, S.C., area.
This past summer, leaders from SAS Retail Services and Advantage teed off for a good cause, joining with retail giant Ahold Delhaize USA (ADUSA) for the annual Central PA Golf Outing in Hershey, Pa. The event supported the ADUSA Family Foundation, whose mission is to improve the lives of children, fight hunger and help build healthy communities.
In December, the Advantage Canada team partnered with Food 4 Kids in Mississauga, an organization that packs backpacks of food for kids in need to take home for the weekend to prevent them from coming back to school on Mondays hungry. The team donated more than 2,000 food items through its holiday fundraiser and even spent an afternoon at the Food 4 Kids warehouse packing backpacks for more than 250 kids.
Most recently, the Advantage Legal and Safety team spent a day in December farming with Second Harvest Food Bank in California. Through their collective efforts, along with those of other volunteers, the team harvested more than 2,000 pounds of cauliflower to be distributed to families facing food insecurity in Orange County.
“It was a special experience that gave each of us an even deeper appreciation for the hard work farmers and agricultural laborers do daily to ensure we all have food on the table. The day definitely left a lasting impact, and I look forward to doing it again,” says Bryce Robinson, Advantage Solutions chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
“As we continue to transform our business, we are prioritizing our people and purpose efforts even further going into 2024,” says Grey. “We’ll amplify our focus on food insecurity and expand our efforts to directly address equitable access to economic mobility within our communities. I’m thrilled for us to explore the full potential of our impact in the coming year.”