2000 SEAR report

International Operations

In 2000 we did not enter any new international markets. We continued to work on strengthening our businesses in each of our existing markets in the UK, France, Benelux, Canada, Lebanon and Japan. Our social mission activities, other than in the UK, were mainly in product donation and philanthropy.

In 1998 we launched the PartnerBus Program with a renovated school bus (the Flying Friesian) for scooping. We operated the Flying Friesian to benefit ChildLine, a national helpline for mentally and physically abused children. In 2000 we raised over £16,000 pounds for their CHIPS program (ChildLine in Partnership with Schools), where materials on peer support were produced, and six conferences were held by students to collaborate on programs within their schools.

We made a donation of £2,500 to Peace Child International to aid in the production of a human rights book, “The Rights of the Child,” written for and by children across the world.

We donated £10,000 to NCH Action for Children to install a playground at a special home the NCH runs for families being assessed by the state. Funding paid for new equipment and soft pavement.

A local community school for autistic children, Friends of Freemantel, was selected to be the beneficiary of our calendar sales. We raised a total of £2000 that went toward building a new therapy room.

We donated £6,000 to the National Badger Federation for the production of new promotional materials to help them gain new membership and enhance awareness of their campaigns.

During the summer, fall and winter months, Ben & Jerry’s was sampled at a total of 89 events across Canada. Over 90,000 samples of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream were scooped.

$38,497 was raised through sampling for worthy charities that included the Starlight Kids helping Kids Foundation, the MS Society of Canada, the United Way, CANFAR, Word on the Street (an organization dedicated to promoting literacy among inner city children) and Evergreen (a national, nonprofit, environmental organization whose goal is to bring nature back to our cities, schools and homes).