Major scheme from Froneri ice cream supports key UK community organisations
Pictured at Froneri’s UK headquarters in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire are corporate fundraiser for FMNCH Lou Addison, CEO for TAG, Larry Hollando, Lisa Morton of SMH and Sophie Fisher of HHH, head of UK Froneri Mike Fraine and head of marketing for Froneri Brunhilde VanAntwerp.
The fast-rising Froneri ice cream group is undertaking its first major UK community programme in partnership with three Yorkshire charities, with a series of donations set to total £180,000, writes Neill Barston.
Having started out as a joint venture initiated by Nestle in 2016 and subsequently sold in a deal worth a reported $4 billion in 2019, the specialist business explained it is seeking to give something back amid challenging times.
The business is now considered the second largest manufacturer of ice cream worldwide and the number one private label producer worldwide. It manufactures various big-name ice cream brands including Nestlé Rowntree’s, Cadbury Ice Cream, Oreo Ice Cream and Kelly’s of Cornwall, Nuii and Roar.
Its ICE (Inspiring Community Engagement) scheme a three-year long programme of activity that will inspire employees to support their local community. The business has kickstarted its programme by pledging donations of £20,000 per charity per year for the duration of the partnership – a commitment of £180,000 – to Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, Saint Michael’s Hospice / Herriot Hospice Homecare and The Avalon Group in order to help them continue their incredible work supporting vulnerable members of the community.
A total of 1,447 hours will be gifted by Froneri to enable staff to volunteer over the course of the year by assisting at retail sites, helping with gardening and renovation work and providing companionship, for example. Staff will be encouraged to support charity fundraising events such as sponsored skydives and 10K runs and embark on their own fundraising endeavours, too. The ice cream manufacturer will also donate ice cream to bring joy to the lives of charity clients and to support charities’ fundraising and events programmes.
The inception of Froneri ICE is part of the businesses much bigger CSR and ESG initiatives which sees it report progress annually under five pillars: Environment, Social, Brand and Products, Governance and Suppliers.
Pictured at Froneri’s UK headquarters in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire are CEO of TAG Larry Hollando, Sophie Fisher of HHH head of UK Froneri Mike Fraine, Lisa Morton of SMH, head of marketing for Froneri Brunhilde VanAntwerp and corporate fundraiser for FMNCH Lou Addison.
Froneri has various brand led social responsibility projects such as Nuii’s partnership with WildArk supporting biodiversity projects in wild places, and Kelly’s sponsorship of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to support sustainable local farming and bumblebee friendly meadows. Despite this, Froneri has recognised that there is more it can do to provide support to the people on its doorstep – its local community.
Froneri’s Head of UK, Mike Fraine, said: “We launched Froneri ICE because we recognise that as a business and as individual employees, we all have an active role to play in supporting the communities in which we work and live. We are proud to be a part of the Yorkshire region, and we want to do what we can to help our community thrive. We hope that through Froneri ICE, we can make a positive difference to the lives of our charity partners’ clients.
“This initiative is part of our much bigger commitment to do our best by our people, our planet, our suppliers and our communities. Our commitment to ESG, CSR and sustainability is part of how we do business every day, and we are thrilled that we can now add ‘supporting our local community’ to the list of ways in which we work hard to support the people that the business comes into contact with.”
