FCL’S Banda announces donations, as firm struggles with COVID-19
SASKATOON Federated Co-operatives Limited is donating $250,000 to western Canadian food banks and the equivalent of more than a million dollars in gift cards to good Samaritans, even as the company grapples with the financial impact of COVID-19 on its food and fuel operations.
“This has had a huge impact on co-ops in Western Canada,” CEO Scott Banda said. “All of them first and foremost are involved in critical infrastructure — food, pharmacy, fuel — so we’ve had to find a way to continue and operate.”
The company is donating $250,000 to food banks in Western Canada in light of increased demand during the pandemic. FCL spokesman Cam Zimmer said the company is donating directly to different provincial food bank associations, but would not say how the money was being divided.
The donation is in addition to the annual donations FCL makes to those organizations each year. Last year it donated roughly 1.2 million pounds of food.
FCL is also giving away up to 1,250 $100 gift cards to good Samaritans in its more than 580 member communities. Banda said the program is meant to recognize people who “make our lives a little brighter, or maybe a little easier,” during the pandemic, like front line workers or people delivering groceries to those in need. Nominations for those cards are open from May 5 to May 19.
Banda said the company would also look to invest at least $1 million in local community projects in the months to come.
BUSINESS IN A PANDEMIC
The company is weathering shocks to the food supply chain following what Banda called “incredible” demand in the early weeks of the pandemic.
He noted COVID-19 creates safety concerns for food production centres, as seen at the Cargill meat packing plant in Alberta, where 921 of 2,000 workers were infected. He said FCL’S facilities have measures in place to guarantee self-isolation and ample space for physical distancing. He added supplies of food are stable, but that consumer options could be limited in the months to come.
“The way I would put it: we can withstand hiccups,” Banda said. “The challenge will be if there’s prolonged disruptions in a particular commodity.”
He is also optimistic that fuel production will be adequate to supply the agriculture industry as farmers enter planting season, but the real challenge is the energy sector, whose collapse has “devastated” some businesses, he said.
“People are not travelling, and we do not foresee that will come back in the near term. And that’s had a major impact on our co-operatives.”
FCL recently presented its “best and final offer” to striking members of Unifor 594 at the company’s Regina refinery, which the local rejected, leaving bargaining in apparent limbo.
The company’s only immediate plan is to “wait for a change of view from Unifor,” Banda said.
“We will continue to operate the refinery as we have.”