Neighborhood Centers Inc. would like to recognize ARAMARK as a strong and valued community partner. For the past three years, Neighborhood Centers and ARAMARK have teamed up to strengthen families we serve in the greater Houston area. Through ARAMARK Building Community, hundreds of employee volunteers from across the company’s many diverse business groups have supported our programs focusing on helping to prepare and connect people to jobs, nutrition and wellness education/awareness programs to help residents live healthier lives, and access to basic human services. Their support has also included "extreme makeovers" to enhance our neighborhood centers, benefiting thousands of residents.
ARAMARK employees lead the annual Ready 2 Act! Youth Day, a day-long event that provides resources and counseling to high school youth preparing for college or the workforce. The company also has provided summer internships and ongoing career counseling for several of our Youth Development program participants.
ARAMARK presents the Health Information Program Party (HIPP) at the Harbach-Ripley Neighborhood Center each August, providing southeast Houston residents with much-needed health screenings, supplies and wellness information. This year, through the ARAMARK Building Community Eat Smart Zone, company chefs provided healthy cooking demonstrations, distributed nutritional literature and consulted with attendees about their diets. Additionally, individual volunteers assist with everything from helping neighborhood food vendors properly prepare and transport their wares at our Culture Fest marketplace events to teaching community residents how to cook healthy – and affordable – meals and snacks at several of our community centers.
ARAMARK's partnership with Neighborhood Centers has served as a model for the company's commitment to local neighborhood centers. Based upon our work together, ARAMARK Building Community is a national initiative that will be in more than 25 cities, involve nearly 10,000 employees and impact close to 10,000 individuals and families in the U.S. and across the globe by the end of 2009. Through grants, volunteer support and product donations, ARAMARK is committed to improving community centers just like ours.
"From our first meeting with Neighborhood Centers, we knew that we had found the perfect partner," said Holly Montalbano, ARAMARK's Houston Vice President of External Relations. "Our initial collaborations around our core focus areas yielded such positive results that expanding this program nationally was a relatively easy process. A lot of what we learned about how to match our strengths with a community’s needs was developed through our partnership with Neighborhood Centers."
Among other recognition, ARAMARK's efforts earned the company a "Keep Houston Beautiful Proud Partner Award" from Mayor Bill White. Neighborhood Centers is just as proud to partner with ARAMARK, and we look forward to our continued work together for the benefit of our neighbors… and our city.
ARAMARK is a leader in professional services, providing award-winning food services, facilities management, and uniform and career apparel to health care institutions, universities and school districts, stadiums and arenas, and businesses around the world. In FORTUNE magazine's 2009 list of "World's Most Admired Companies," ARAMARK was ranked number one in its industry, consistently ranking since 1998 as one of the top three most admired companies in its industry as evaluated by peers and analysts. ARAMARK seeks to responsibly address issues that matter to its clients, customers, employees and communities by focusing on employee advocacy, environmental stewardship, health and wellness, and community involvement. Headquartered in Philadelphia, ARAMARK has approximately 260,000 employees serving clients in 22 countries. Learn more on the company's Web site, www.aramark.com, or www.twitter.com/aramarknews.