TORONTO — In honour of International Nurses Day, Molson Coors Beverage Company provided 20,000 frontline healthcare workers with a meal of their choosing to thank them for their tireless work in fighting COVID-19 and creating a better tomorrow.
In coordination with hospitals, gift-card codes for SkipTheDishes were offered to frontline healthcare workers at hospitals in communities where Molson Coors brews: Mount Sinai Hospital and St. Michael’s Hospital in Ontario; Montreal General Hospital in Quebec; Chilliwack General Hospital in British Columbia; Health Sciences Centre in Newfoundland and Labrador; and Horizon’s The Moncton Hospital in New Brunswick.
Molson Coors is now inviting the public to send meals to healthcare heroes, too, through a GoFundMe page, which will collect funds for meals beyond the initial pledge of 20,000. Already, SkipTheDishes has raised the meal count by 2,800, donating $70,000 to existing efforts.
Canadians can share a meal by donating at this link; every $25 raised will provide a meal to a frontline healthcare hero. The GoFundMe page will collect donations until May 31, after which meal codes will be distributed proportionally to the hospitals.
“Our founder, John Molson, built the first public hospital in Montreal out of the desire to help those in need and make his community a better place,” says Fred Landtmeters, president of Molson Coors Canada. “Canadian healthcare workers are selflessly caring for those in need to create a better tomorrow for all of us. While we can’t help these heroes on the frontline, we can certainly thank them with the gesture of a meal.”
These contributions also serve to help the restaurant industry. With establishments closed for dine-in services, home delivery has a heightened role to play for restaurant owners and consumers alike. Having a meal as the value exchanged provides a role for restaurants to play in this gesture of appreciation.
“We’re proud to support Molson Coors on a program that not only thanks healthcare workers who are working tirelessly to fight COVID-19, but also helps our restaurant partners facing unprecedented hardships,” says Rob Payne, vice-president, National Partnerships atSkipTheDishes.
The program is the latest in a series of COVID-19 relief efforts from Molson Coors, which has included support to communities of small businesses, freelancers and artists in Canada. Previous and ongoing initiatives also include offering repurposed trucks and drivers to help transport non-perishable and/or medical supplies, donating 10 per cent of its craft breweries’ curbside-pickup and delivery revenue to the Bartender’s Benevolent Fund and matching a significant donation to the Centraide du Grand Montréal (United Way).
