Employees giving back this holiday season

In the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Syncrude held its three-day annual Food Bank Drive where volunteers, including Suncor employees, helped collect food at various grocery stores, contributing to the over 45,000 pounds of food collected. Suncor and Syncrude also participated in a 12-hour radiothon in support of Wood Buffalo Food Bank. In addition to donations by employees, Suncor and Syncrude together donated $125,000, which accounts for about one third of the annual food/operational funds for the food bank.

“This is our largest event of the year,” says Michelle Hand, Communications & Development Manager, Wood Buffalo Food Bank Association. “Our needs have skyrocketed as residents are using our services more than ever. We currently provide over 600 hampers to the Wood Buffalo Region, and we expect that number to continue to grow.” 

Syncrude also donated harvested trees to be used as Christmas tree from the bison pasture, in support of the United Way, Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo. The trees are Harvested from the bison pasture to allow more room for the bison to roam.

“We are proud to have found this outlet for trees that would otherwise be shredded and disposed of,” says Eric Girard, Revegetation Specialist, Operations Support Mining, Suncor. “It is amazing to think that several families will have a piece of Syncrude reclamation in their living room this holiday season, likely with some bison hair attached to it.” 

In Edmonton, all Suncor employees in and around Edmonton, including previous Syncrude employees who will be joining for the first time since the integration, have been invited to their 2022 holiday party. Ticket sales from the event will be donated to the Edmonton Food Bank.

Employees at the Montreal Refinery set up on a busy street near the refinery to ask motorists for donations. This initiative collected nearly $2,000 and Suncor donated an additional $5,000 to the food drive. This will benefit multiple organization including Action Secours Vie D’espoir. 

Another group of Montreal employees helped Cuisine Collective à Toute Vapeur to prepare and deliver Christmas baskets to families in need. Suncor also contributed $10,500 to this initiative.

In Oakville, in lieu of charging guests to come to the holiday party, employees were asked to bring gift cards to be donated to the Kerr Street Mission. These gift cards are used to support their “Christmas Wonders” program, gifted to newcomers to Canada or for their youth development program.

Employees in Eastern Canada participated in the 22^nd annual Christmas Hamper Drive initiative in support of Credit Counselling Services Newfoundland, Single Parents Association and Community Food Sharing. This year, the East Coast Christmas Hamper Giving Opportunity has raised about $8,000 with a portion of the donation coming from an employee run bake sale.

“We’ve been very successful with fundraising every year to help out families and organizations in need since we started the Christmas Hamper drive in 2000,” says Stacy Tucker, Executive Assistant, Exploration and Production and In Situ, Suncor. “What makes it successful, are the caring and loving people in this organization who are very helpful and generous in making this happen. It’s truly amazing the support we get from everyone here.” 

More than 1,000 Petro-Canada Associates, staff and Suncor employees participated in the first annual Strides for Caregivers national 5 kilometre charity walk in October, which raised over $60,000 for the Petro-Canada CareMakers Foundation. 

Suncor employees across the organization donated their time, money and clothing through various drives, in support of Calgary Drop-In Centre, Salvation Army, Calgary Food Bank, Adopt-a-Family with the Inn of Good Shepherd, Calgary Women In Need Society (WINS), Seniors Secret Service, Veterans Food Bank and more.