JDI Corporate 

Each month employees at our head office in Saint John host a casual day and raise funds for a local charity. In the month of November, funds were raised to support First Steps Housing Project Inc. in Saint John and their 19th Christmas as an organization. First Steps supports young women and their children with a safe place to live, healthy meals, and parenting, education and independent living skills. The organization strives to ensure that families in their care are given a joyous Christmas and we thank them for all that they do for our community!

A sure sign of the holidays around mostly all of JDI's businesses in Saint John is the collection of items for PALS Holiday Hampers. PALS (Partners Assisting Local Schools) began in 2000 to help students living in poverty realize their full potential. This year, JDI employees as well as many other PALS and Community Partners supported families in the Greater Saint John Region to ensure families in need have a happy holiday season. In addition to the hampers, turkeys are also donated to the families. Thank you to all the PALS partners for putting these together again this year!

At our Moncton head office, employees have been supporting Operation Christmas Child for 14 years. The program brings joy and hope to children in need around the world through gift-filled shoeboxes. It helps remind less fortunate children that they are not forgotten. This year, 35 shoeboxes were donated to the Moncton, NB chapter.

The Empty Stocking Fund is a staple in the Greater Saint John community when it comes to the holiday season. Every year, performers from across the region participate in the telethon to raise money for children in the community. As a company, J.D. Irving, Limited is proud to sponsor this event each year and is thankful for the work that the Empty Stocking Fund continues to do to make Christmas happen for children in the Greater Saint John Region. Congratulations to the Empty Stocking Fund for raising over $260,000 this year!

For the last four years, employees at JDI have participated in The Shoebox Project. The initiative distributes decorated shoeboxes with approximately $50 worth of gifts and essentials, and includes a warm greeting or message of support. The gifts are delivered to shelters and community agencies serving women impacted by homelessness over the holiday season. It is a rare and powerful reminder that we all matter. This year, over $6,600 in virtual and physical shoeboxes were delivered to chapters in New Annan, PEI, Moncton, NB and Toronto, ON.

Construction & Equipment Division

The Construction & Equipment Division takes the holiday season very seriously, and their efforts in the community haven't been slowed down by the pandemic.

Due to constraints of the pandemic, the Irving Equipment Holiday party turned into a North Pole Drive through again this year. Real trees were purchased for the event, with the plan to donate them after the event through the Carleton Community Centre. The event is also used as a time to collect non-perishable food, that is donated to the local community. During the late fall, members at the Irving Equipment in Saint John had a raffle for a snow blower, and t-shirts with all money being donated to Feed Saint John, raising over $4000.

$2000 was donated to Bobby's Hospice through the donations raised through t-shirt sales. Over $600 was donated through holiday hampers to local families and $500 was donated each to First Steps, Seaside School and Carleton Community Centre.

The holiday drive-through party for CFM, Irving Equipment and Gulf Operators had a collection bin for non-perishable food, which was donated to the local food bank in Saint John.

Pulp & Paper Division

The folks at Irving Paper made a surprise visit to their furry neighbours at the Saint John SPCA, stopping by to donate hundreds of dollars worth of Royale tissue products. With their “sleigh” filled to the very top, the Irving Paper team began unloading the boxes one by one, but not before giving some well-deserved scratches to the very festively dressed Angel and Lassie – a resident pair of bonded dogs currently available for adoption. To learn how you can become involved with the Saint John SPCA visit their website www.spcaanimalrescue.com

The room was filled with smiles as Irving Pulp & Paper’s mill manager, Cory Gallant, handed a $10,000 cheque to the representatives of the Children’s Make-a-Wish Foundation. After a heartwarming speech about the importance of the foundation and the impact that they have on individual families, pulp mill employees were told that their donation was going to be used to grant the wish of an ill child right here in Saint John. Make-A-Wish Canada has granted over 35,000 wishes across the country, with over 1,000 last year alone.

Irving Tissue’s employees donated $2,364 to the Saint John Harbour Lights Campaign, a charity group striving to collect and distribute funds to 15 separate food banks in the Southwest New Brunswick region, depending on their needs at any given time. While this is a year-round charity, the needs of food banks are significantly higher during the holiday season. If you’d like to help the foundation meet its goal of $200,000 please visit: harbourlightssj.ca. 

Lake Utopia has been living up to their name this holiday season, putting a tremendous amount of effort into supporting various charity organizations in their community. In Charlotte County, three families were “adopted” by the Lake through the Adopt-a-Family program, helping to alleviate their financial stress and ensure they can create Christmas memories that will last a lifetime. While raising funds for Charlotte County school breakfast programs, Lake Utopia employees are also doing what they can to support the St. George food bank by organizing a food drive at their mill. Their donation of food, cash, and tissue products will be delivered on December 17^th.

Sawmill Division

The Sawmill Division has been busy this holiday season supporting the regions where their employees live and work.

The division's holiday elf, Alain Ouellette, has been busy around the community, donating to the Richelieu Club in Grand Falls. The club is putting together holiday baskets to deliver to families in need throughout Grand Falls and St. Leonard.

Alain made a stop at the Grand Falls Hospital to sponsor their onsite Christmas Tree.

Next on Alain's tour was a $5000 donation to Downtown Edmundston's Elf's Hopping Spree. Due to restrictions and parade cancellations in 2020, the downtown core of Edmundston has begun turning itself into the North Pole including Christmas markets, holiday store fronts, actors in the streets and light shows on local buildings.

A donation of 11 turkeys was made to l'École Régionale-de-Sainte-André in Saint-André, NB to cook and serve to students and teachers for a holiday dinner.

Last stop on Alain's tour was a sponsorship of a Holiday Bingo game for a nursing home in St. Anne, NB!

Transportation & Logistics Division

With 10 unique businesses, our Transportation & Logistics Division is one of our busiest during the holiday season! In 2021, they've made a conscious effort to combine employee appreciation activities with giving back to local businesses and communities. As they continue to deliver through a second COVID-impacted holiday season, a special thanks is extended to all employees, customers, friends and communities where we live and work, for their dedication and drive.

Merry & Bright Holiday Video Series

Becoming a favourite across the division, our groups participated in creating holiday videos, you can see all the companies' videos on our YouTube channel.

The divisional Women Driving Forward team collected donations across all Saint John business locations for the Coverdale Centre for Women through December. High value items included toiletries, cleaning supplies, gift cards, non-perishable food and snacks, pens and journals, sleepwear and slippers, toys, and clothing for children under 12. The goods were collected in canvas bags, per the campaign's "Canvasing Hope" slogan, and delivered to the centre prior to Christmas. Thank you to our employees for their generosity, and to the centre for its vital work to support women and families in crisis.

Supporting the PALS Program during the holidays is a long-standing tradition for Atlantic Towing. Normally the company participates in the PALS Holiday Hampers initiative, filling boxes for local families in need. This year, the company implemented weekly 50/50 draws, along with its employee canteen, to help raise funds for more hampers than ever before! Kat Rooney and Melanie Patterson led the charge this year, and Atlantic Towing ended up raising over $2,000 - enough to support 10 families!

Many local holiday parades were cancelled due to pandemic concerns this year. The NBM Railways team responded by repurposing its award-winning parade float, a wooden locomotive normally featured in the Lancaster Santa Claus Parade, and lending the structure to Doironville, a neighbourhood holiday display. Just a few hundred yards from the railway's headquarters in Saint John, Doironville is organized by locally-owned Doiron's Sports Excellence, and functions as a food and donation collection point, in addition to a major attraction for tourists and families. This year's donations supported the West Side Food Bank and the Maddy Murphy Memorial Fund for mental health.

With a tightly-knit team, JDI Logistics goes above and beyond every holiday season to give back to the communities where employees live and work, show customer appreciation and celebrate together where possible. The team collected donations in support of both the PALS Program and Coverdale Centre for Women, signed over 300 personalized cards for customers and celebrated in a COVID-safe manner with a team dinner.

For the second year, Universal Truck and Trailer launched its 12 Days of Giving campaign which combines employee appreciation events, staff prizes and giveaways, with a focus on local vendors hit hard in 2021 by pandemic restrictions and shutdowns. From having local vendors like the Ice Cream Barn provide hot chocolate, to running food and toy drives, to drawing for gift baskets and other locally sourced wares, it's been a very busy season!  In addition Amy Hobbes and Michelle Bowland of the company's Saint John location organized toonie boards, 50/50's, bake sales and bottle drives to fundraise for the PALS Program. They raised over $1,500 in just a few months and managed to purchase over two dozen holiday packages for children! Mobile Parts Technician, Dave Connell, was instrumental in delivering the gifts.

#DrivingKindness was one of RST Sunbury's most successful campaigns of 2020. In lieu of hosting normal in-person Driver Appreciation events, the RST Sunbury leadership team asked drivers to nominate the organizations, people and communities that stepped up to help drivers and others impacted by the pandemic. The campaign was so successful that it was relaunched in 2021, resulting in over $6,000 of driver-led community donations to local organizations.

Woodlands Division

'Tis the season to make the holidays brighter for those around you! The Woodlands Division has been hard at work spreading cheer across our regions.

The Woodlands team in Chipman, New Brunswick donated a Nantucket fire pit, bags of seasoned wood, candies and 100 white spruce seed cards to the Chipman Community Christmas Party. Unfortunately, the event was canceled, but the items will be put to good use around the community! Turkeys were delivered to Chipman Community Care, Inc., a social services organization which offers food boxes, clothing and household items, low rent properties and more to the surrounding area. $1000 was also donated to the Chipman Telethon to be put towards Chipman Community Care Inc.

In the Saint John region, one of our independent contractors, Steve Gosson of Gosson Enterprises Ltd. donated his $750 cash prize for winning the Outstanding Trucking Contractor of the Year 2021 award. This donation went to to Lakewood Headstart, a non-profit food and clothing bank in his area. Our Sussex team, inspired by his generosity, has matched that donation. 

In Sussex, members of our team donated $200 to the Salvation Army Community Church to help them fill community baskets and spread holiday cheer.

KENT

This holiday season KENT participated in three different campaigns in various regions across Atlantic Canada. In the Halifax Metro area, they hosted the FX101.9 Toy Drive, where 14 pallets of toys were collected to donate to Adsum House for Women & Children.

In the Saint John region, the team participated in a campaign to raise funds for the Empty Stocking Fund. Combined the Saint John East, West, and Rothesay stores raised over $2,700. Every dollar adds up to ensure that all children in the region have a joyous Christmas morning.

In the Greater Moncton Area, the team participated in the Angels Remembered campaign with Hospice SENB. This campaign holds a special place in the hearts of employees and remains a favourite activity for associates to participate in.

Midland

The team at Midland participated in the 10th Annual Big Rigs, Big Hearts, Big Results Truck Convoy this year. The event is an opportunity for the trucking industry and the community to come together and support the incredible athletes that participate in the Nova Scotia Special Olympics

Irving Tissue & Irving Personal Care

Employees at Irving Tissue in Dieppe and Irving Personal Care in Moncton donated their unused uniform credits to purchase $9000 of clothing from Chandler Sales. It was delivered to Harvest House Atlantic and Youth Quest in Moncton. This is the fourth year for Irving Tissue and the second year for Irving Personal Care.

Cavendish Farms

Cavendish Farms employees in Jamestown, North Dakota participated in a friendly competition with another local company to see who could donate the highest average number of items per employee to the community. The competition has been an ongoing tradition since 2010 with Newman Signs. This year, Cavendish Farms employees brought in an average of 11 items per employee. However, their rivals received the trophy this year bringing in almost 20 items per person!