The Little Milk Co. - Building Healthy and Sustainable Communities
Business Type: SME
Location: Dungarvan, Co Waterford
Mission Statement: To be the No 1 Supplier of Organic Cheddar in the EU by 2021
No. of Employees: 5
Overview of CSR Initiative:
Building Healthy and Sustainable Communities
We have asked our team to get involved in their community to foster growth and invest in healthy communities.
We have funded and are organising, promoting and running Mental Health Workshops for the community of West Waterford.
We have funded and are investing time in growing 3 local community groups, through financial investment, leadership assistance and organisation empowerment.
Project team: Conor Mulhall, Viki Lynch
Resources required: Employee Time, Money
Challenges: No significant Challenges
Benefits: A healthier more Vibrant Community
Outcome: A Positive outcome of self-sustaining community-based projects
How was/is this initiative promoted? Social Media
Do you report on CSR in the Annual Report? No
CSR Dimension:
Towards Responsible Business’ Ireland’s National Plan on CSR 2017-2020 identifies 4 core dimensions of CSR – Environment, Community, Workplace and Marketplace.
• Environment - minimising negative environmental impacts
• Community - interaction with your local community partners and organisations
• Workplace - supporting and engaging with your employees
• Marketplace - interaction with your local community partners and organisations.
Please select the dimension(s) that you apply to your CSR Initiative and why?
We engaged with our local community partners, local sports club, local community centre. We have done this as we passionately believe in the sustainability of rural communities. Having people engaged in local community groups is vital to the enjoyment of living in a rural setting, therefore our project has helped this in a small way thereby enhancing rural life in this community.
Business Impact:
How has the CSR initiative benefitted your business and demonstrated a win:win in the short-term and/or long-term?
The project has helped with the local sports club and the local community centre, This in turn has meant a positive view of the members of The Littler Milk Co team in the community thereby increasing sales and brand recognition of our products. This is an ongoing and long-term project that we feel can benefit the local community and therefore enhance the lives of all those who live in our communities.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
Please identify which SDG goal(s) apply to your CSR initiative:
SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing
SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
Learning:
What did you learn from your experience of creating and implementing a CSR initiative?
We learnt that the process of giving feel better than the process of taking. The initiative of sustainable local rural development is one that has many benefits, from sense of purpose to positive mental health benefits.
What advice would you give a business starting on their CSR Journey?
For an SME like ourselves remember to focus on the social responsibility rather that the Corporate. Look at what makes sense in your community and realise that companies like yours making a small difference locally can make a large difference collectively.
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