Nutri-Lawn Kitchener prides itself on thinking outside the box. Having just completed its third annual food drive, the company used its business model to leverage collection of an entire skid of food, which was delivered to the local food bank. A total of 1,189 pounds was collected one donation at a time by the LO member. The residential lawn care franchise called ahead to notify customers of a visit, and that Nutri-Lawn would pick up donations, specifying the type of food needed and requesting that the food be left on the porch.

Each of the three years has seen more donations. This year, the company committed to matching one dollar for every pound of food donated. “The drive is part of the continual awareness the food bank needs to stay front and centre in the mind of the community,” says Nancy Mulhall, Nutri-Lawn Kitchener’s production coordinator.

“We feel very good about this idea and want to share it with LO members to encourage others to go ahead with ideas that meld community needs with their business model, in order to give back to the community that supports them. For a small business such as ours, this made giving part of our every day work, rather than a line item on the balance sheet. It also positively involved our employees and customers,” says Mulhall. In photo, from left, are the Nutri-Lawn Kitchener gang who took part in delivering the food: Jack Becking, Scott Hopkinson, Garrett Morrow, Dave Newbigging, Eric Ferreira, Bill Pacheco, Gary Mulhall and Nancy Mulhall.