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During the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations and companies have led the way by reaching out a helping hand — or many hands.

As our partners are demonstrating, business can be a force for good when a crisis hits. Companies can use their supply chains, technology, facilities and even airplanes to respond, providing new products, rescue efforts and donations of human and financial resources to support people across Canada and around the world.

WE believes in partnering to change the world, as laid out in United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17, which deals with multi-stakeholder partnerships. SDG 17 encourages multi-sector partnerships between non-profit organizations, corporations and governments as the best means to make positive social progress. WE seeks to be a platform that can unite educational partners, international agencies, community organizations, foundations, corporations and the media to take action on important issues and empower young people.

At the heart of what we do is a philosophy of partnership: Together, we can achieve more impact for everyone. This has never been truer as we come together to find solutions to the fallout from the world’s most significant health crisis.

WE Charity’s North American programs and our rapid response in developing countries would not be possible without the dedicated support, time and collaboration of incredible corporate and foundation partners. They are making our digital programs and online resources free for students, educators, families and workers and helping us mount an emergency response in key regions where we work globally. The following companies have stepped up to respond to COVID-19’s challenges on a local, national or even international level. They serve as remarkable examples of corporate citizenship in action and that WE are indeed stronger together.

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In these challenging times, our top priority is the health and safety of our employees and communities. We have deployed extraordinary measures to ensure safe deliveries for our team and for our clients. Van Houtte Coffee Services has always been active in areas where we operate across the country, and are now proudly fuelling our frontline workers by providing them with the coffee they need to keep going, offering a well-deserved moment of comfort in their busy day. They are our guardian angels and deserve to know that we have got their backs, too.

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As Canada’s leader in coffee service, we work hard to improve the livelihoods of our coffee farmers around the world, who have also been hard-hit by the current crisis. Our partnership with ME to WE Coffee That Changes Lives™ is one that is near and dear to our hearts, empowering farmers and their families so they can lift themselves out of poverty. Today more than ever, their work is crucial, and as a partner of ME to WE, we salute their tireless efforts to ensure that coffee-farming communities can thrive for generations to come.


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Ardene is supporting healthcare workers on the front-line fighting COVID-19 across Canada. The retailer is sending comfortable women’s sneakers and socks in assorted sizes to hospitals, medical centers, and screening clinics. The need for new, unworn, footwear continues to increase as hospital teams change their shoes and socks multiple times a day to mitigate the spread of the virus.

60,000 pairs have been donated to over 100 hospitals in 9 provinces across the country so far.

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“We’re here to support our community and will continue to stand by Canadians, especially those risking their lives to keep us safe.” says Ardene. Ardene will also donate to women’s shelters across Canada, and for every purchase made on ardene.com during the COVID-19 crisis, Ardene will give $1 to WE Well-being.

If you know someone in need, please email donations@ardene.com


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WestJet became a proud supporter of WE because both organizations believe in the power of bringing people together. While the COVID-19 global pandemic has changed what that means, it hasn’t made it any less a priority for WestJet. WestJet now flies to support essential travel and transportation, including helping thousands of Canadians stranded abroad get back home. In collaboration with the Government of Canada, WestJet continues to schedule international flights to areas where Canadians are waiting.

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And, while the frequency of flights may be less, by continuing operations to all the domestic cities WestJet currently serves, the airline is keeping critical economic lifelines open for the flow of essential goods like pharmaceuticals, blood products and many other necessary items that need to be shipped quickly, carefully and on time. Canadians coast-to-coast depend on this service that WestJet is proud to provide.


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Ford of Canada has a long history of supporting our communities in times of need. That’s why we repurposed production facilities to help meet the demand for personal protective equipment to assist medical personnel and first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, we’re offering customers a variety of services, including six months of payment relief for the purchase of eligible new vehicles, payment extensions of up to 90 days for most customers financing or leasing through Ford Credit, and at participating dealerships, pickup-and-delivery for vehicle service and remote sales delivery.

We want to say THANK YOU to everyone delivering essential goods and services, and to the rest of the country for self-isolating, physical distancing and staying at home. We know it isn’t easy, but the great thing about Canadians is that when times get tough, we rise to the challenge. Together, we are #BuiltToLendAHand


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Our operations at DHL Express are being adapted to mitigate the potential impacts of COVID-19. We are following a holistic management process that enables us to ensure the best possible operations for our customers, while maintaining the safety of our employees, customers and partners a priority. We monitor the situation daily, we provide our employees with necessary information, personal protection equipment such as masks and gloves, and we disinfect our facilities as recommended by health organizations. Our frontline employees are our DHL heroes and it is with their dedication and hard work during this crisis that we are able to continue delivering excellence to our customers. We’ve implemented contactless delivery, remote payments and operational redesign to ensure social distancing. We’ve added daily flights into Ontario out of our Americas Hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to fill the gaps of a reduction in commercial airline flights and to meet the high demand of shipments with PPE, prioritizing these urgent shipments. In the last month, we’ve imported more than 11,000 shipments of masks, 1200 shipments of surgical scrubs, and 5600 shipments of gloves.


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COVID-19 has upended the lives of Canadians in innumerable ways, and we believe it is our responsibility to use available resources for the benefit of others. The Peter Gilgan Foundation has made a $3.2 million donation to Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital to fund rapid expansion of its critical testing capacity. This donation was issued as a matching challenge, and more than a thousand Canadians answered the call, resulting in an additional $3 million raised for this amazing institution.

The Peter Gilgan Foundation has also donated $1.5 million to organizations that are dealing with some of the urgent needs emerging across Canada, including gifts to the Daily Bread Food Bank, the Second Harvest Food Bank, Ottawa Food Banks and Food Banks of Alberta.


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As one of the largest owners, operators and developers of commercial real estate in North America, Cadillac Fairview (CF) is dedicated to helping the communities it serves, especially during these unprecedented times.

Our local teams have rallied together to support communities across Canada in big and small ways. We’ve donated hand sanitizer to public health agencies in short supply and loaned food court trays to retirement facilities challenged with reformatting their services. In Toronto, CF is showing its gratitude to front line heroes by using the largest billboard in North America to broadcast the message of thanks shared by the entire city. Two of CF’s largest properties, CF Toronto Eaton Centre and Toronto-Dominion Centre, have donated more than 1,000 parking spots to nearby hospitals and their workers. And we’re not done, CF recently created a special program to support employees that are helping their local communities in this time of crisis.


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Nelson is a Canadian Heritage company, serving the education community for over 106 years. In these unprecedented times, we are supporting students, teachers and parents across the country by providing open access to learning resources from pre-kindergarten to post- secondary, to facilitate learning at home. Our educational specialists have recorded sessions with strategies to support mental health and wellbeing, in addition to ideas and lesson plans to engage at-home learners. We are working with educators at boards, in districts and on campuses to facilitate a transition to digital instruction. Equity is a key part of the success the Canadian educational system; Nelson is working with local agencies to get printed materials to families not currently on-line, in addition to working with boards/districts to provide free access to Edwin—a learning ecosystem providing students and teachers with all learning resources they need to satisfy provincial curriculum. For more information, please see: www.nelson.com/learningonline


Advertising feature produced by WE. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.

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