Diageo Celebrates Grand Reopening of Charitable Agency Person-to-Person's New Norwalk Facility

12 Sep 2013 --- Diageo North America continued the company's tradition of community service this August by supporting the major renovation of Person-to-Person's new Norwalk facility. Person-to-Person (P2P), a volunteer-driven, community-supported agency, responds to individuals and families who lack the basic necessities or resources to improve their lives.

They do this through a variety of services including emergency assistance, scholarships, camperships and donation drives. The charity merged with Norwalk's Christian Community Action in late 2012 and asked Diageo, a business leader in the greater Norwalk area, to help renovate the space to serve more Norwalk families with food and financial assistance.

Diageo's Community Activity and Relief Efforts employee volunteer group (C.A.R.E.s) took a hands-on approach to complete the month-long renovation which involved demolition, painting and rebuilding to make the facility more client-centered. Specifically, C.A.R.E.s members together with P2P volunteers completely reorganized the space to better accommodate both clients and caseworkers and made improvements to the Food Pantry and consultation offices. C.A.R.E.s members also cleaned, painted walls, built shelving, restocked the pantries and hosted a grand opening celebration at the Norwalk facility this evening.

"Diageo has a long history of supporting the communities where we live and work," said Larry Schwartz, President, Diageo North America. "Employees at our North American headquarters are particularly proud to help Norwalk-area residents by working with exemplary organizations like Person-to-Person."

In addition to volunteering their time, C.A.R.E.s members held food drives in Diageo's Norwalk and New York City offices to help stock the food pantry.  Diageo North America also made a donation of $10,000 to support the renovation efforts.

According to P2P Executive Director Ceci Maher, everyone at the agency couldn't be more pleased with – or appreciative of – the financial support and hands-on hard work of Diageo and its employees, noting that the ultimate beneficiaries will be the clients who are served at the Norwalk site. "As part of our mission at P2P we rely on volunteers, and the generosity of individuals, organizations and businesses to provide help to those who come to us for assistance. Because of Diageo's efforts, we will be able to continue delivering more than 90% of all donations to programs and services for our clients."

Diageo's support of community organizations and skills and empowerment initiatives are components of the company's Sustainability and Responsibility Strategy. Diageo's Sustainability & Responsibility Report 2013 is available here.