The Mississauga Food Bank Announces Volunteers of the Year 2012

MISSISSAUGA, ON, September 21, 2012 (Press-News.org) The Mississauga Food Bank is pleased to announce the 2012 Volunteer of the Year award recipients. This award is given to the individual and corporation who exhibited the true 'spirit' of the food bank while volunteering over the past year. The awards will be handed out during the annual Volunteer Appreciation Barbeque on September 19.

The corporate Volunteer of The Year is PepsiCo. In 2012 the company's employees spent 378 hours volunteering at the food bank. The PepsiCo team sorted food and helped out at special events in support of hungry families in the Mississauga community.

PepsiCo has been a longtime supporter of the food bank, including forming a partnership with Food Banks Canada called 'The Grocery Foundation'. 'The Grocery Foundation' provides breakfast and snacks for kids in more than 800 Ontario schools. PepsiCo has also made countless financial donations to not only The Mississauga Food Bank but food banks across the nation.

The individual Volunteer of The Year is Melanie Borho-Persechini. For the past eight years Melanie has been a volunteer at The Mississauga Food Bank. In 2012 alone she volunteered 290 hours! In 2005 Borho-Persechini was elected as the Treasurer of The Mississauga Food Bank's Board of Directors.
Melanie has helped to create new policies and procedures across the organization. She has led the food bank during its growth and expansion from feeding 5,000 people each month to the current 65,000. She also organized the BDO Bowl-a-Thon which raised over $40,000 for The Mississauga Food Bank in 2009.

According to Chris Hatch, Executive Director of The Mississauga Food Bank, "It is because of volunteers like Melanie & PepsiCo that we are able to assure our long-term sustainability. We would like to thank all of our volunteers in 2012 for their diligence, generosity and commitment to our organization. "