A Million Meals, A Meaningful Milestone

This past year has tested our business, our industry and our society as a whole. So when there is something to celebrate, I want to give it special recognition. That’s the case with the milestone reached just recently by our team members at the San Diego Convention Center – as we have now served more than 1-million meals to local homeless residents in the past 12 months.

The overarching project – dubbed Operation Shelter to Home – converted the convention center into an emergency shelter last April and has helped thousands of people and connected more than 1,200 to permanent or longer-term housing.

It is a notable achievement by the local governmental leaders, who have made it a priority to safeguard the most vulnerable members of the local population. It’s also a major accomplishment for our joint Centerplate and Sodexo team in San Diego, and it epitomizes the sense of service spirit that is instilled in each of our respective local teams throughout our network. 

Amidst this herculean effort, the team – led by General Manager Bobby Ramirez and Executive Chef Daryl O’Donnell – has continued to prioritize local sourcing. Their work has thus been an economic catalyst for local farmers and businesses – like Moceri Produce and O’Briens Boulangerie – who certainly need the injection of business right now.  At its peak, this initiative also provided jobs to over 80 of our employees, another positive impact, and one that earned praise locally from San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and Rip Rippetoe, President and CEO of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation.

My colleague Steve Pangburn, the CEO of the North American Sports & Leisure segment, perhaps summarized it best: “the efforts of our team have been admirable and to do so while adhering to the most stringent safety protocols has been even more noteworthy. This program is an inspiration for us all.” 

More broadly, I have been awed by the selflessness of our teams throughout the country – from those delivering meals for the homeless population of San Diego to others staffing food distributions at schools to the thousands of frontline workers who have supported field hospitals, alternate care facilities and senior communities. They have donated tons of food items, volunteered at food banks and produced hundreds of thousands of meals.

We are, at our core, a company defined by our people and it is our people who will help us emerge from this stronger and healthier as we gradually get back to business safely. 

See the City of San Diego’s Operation Shelter to Home page for further updates on the program. 

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