Heineken Malaysia Bhd has launched its Heineken Cares 2022 programme at the Sungei Way Brewery on December 15, 2022, partnering with seven non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community partners to support communities in building capacity for long-term food security.
This year, the brewer is moving beyond providing short-term relief to communities in need by taking it a step further by empowering local communities to start and maintain a sustainable food supply.
“At the height of the pandemic, we saw how vulnerable communities were in need of food aid. Responding to the call for help, we launched Heineken Cares in 2021, a social impact programme to connect our employee’s well-being at work with a purpose to support local communities, giving them the opportunity to participate in meaningful CSR initiatives,” said Heineken Malaysia managing director Roland Bala at the launch event.
As part of their commitment, Heineken Malaysia pledged to deliver over 600,000 meals for local communities across Malaysia to start and maintain their own sustainable food sources.
In tandem with this commitment, the brewer also provided a platform for its partners to showcase their community work at a mini exhibition.
In 2021, the brewer committed one meal to a person in need for every 1,000 steps taken by a Heineken Malaysia employee. The programme delivered 150,000 meals to vulnerable communities across the nation in six months. This was further scaled up during the December 2021 floods with an additional 100,000 meals and care packages for affected communities, eventually delivering a cumulative total of 250,000 meals.
Taking it a step further, Heineken Cares 2022 increased their goal and calling on its employees to step up and achieve 200 million steps cumulatively from November 2022 to March 2023.
This year, Heineken Cares increases its contributions by committing to providing three meals for every 1,000 steps made by an employee, with a goal to deliver more than 600,000 meals for vulnerable communities across Malaysia.
Heineken Malaysia corporate affairs and legal director Renuka Indrarajah said that this year, they want to move beyond providing short-term relief to communities in need and take it a step further by empowering local communities to start and maintain a sustainable food supply.
“By joining forces with Heineken Cares, our NGOs and community partners will be working on projects such as setting up small-scale community farms and satellite aquaponic systems, establishing and leveraging on existing alternative water systems to support these community farms, as well as distributing food provisions to those in need,” she said.
The NGOs and community partners collaborating with Heineken Cares 2022 include The Lost Food Project, Epic, and PWD Smart Farmability, whose projects are focused in supporting communities in Peninsular Malaysia.
While projects by Soroptimist International Region of Malaysia, Hopes Malaysia, Hope Place Kuching and Kupikupifm are supporting communities in Sabah and Sarawak.
