Category: Philanthropy

  • Edible Arrangements
  • Edible Veteran's Day
  • employment
  • entrepreneurs
  • franchisee
  • Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association (IAVA).
  • Military veterans
  • Tariq Farid Veterans
  • Veterans Day. VetFran

As we approach Veterans Day, we are reminded once again of the sacrifices veterans have made and the many obstacles they now, unfortunately, face.

Whether it‘s health problems and painfully long waits to receive treatment, reduced financial support and benefits, or a higher unemployment rate than that of the general population, our veterans return from defending our country only to face more challenges here at home.

While I realize that one individual — or company — cannot solve all of these problems, it is important that we all do what we can to help our men and women of the military, especially in areas where we can have an impact. For Edible Arrangements, that area of impact is unemployment.

It is disheartening to know that unemployment among veterans is 9 percent, almost double that of the general population. There are a number of reasons for this, but the one I have trouble understanding is that some employers are simply hesitant to hire veterans. In my experience, veterans have the exact qualities that make them amazing team members.

They are organized and disciplined. They are persistent and not afraid to take on challenges. They are committed and operate successfully alone or with a team.

In addition, these qualities also make them successful franchisees and small business owners.

At Edible Arrangements, we want to have more employees and franchisees who are veterans! That’s why we provide discounts on our franchise fee and last year launched the Hero’s Welcome program aimed at increasing the number of veterans in our system.

That’s why we donated $125,000 to the International Franchise Association’s VetFran program which assists veterans in becoming small business owners through franchising.

However, we realized that there was even more we could do — not just reaching out to veterans in our business, but spreading the word about how veterans are not just good, but tend to be ideal small business owners, entrepreneurs and team members.

To accomplish this, we have forged a partnership with an amazing and esteemed organization that provides support and services to the 2.8 million veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan — the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association (IAVA). The founder and Executive Director, Paul Rieckhoff, is a veteran (and an all-around amazing person) who has built an organization that works tirelessly to improve the lives of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families.

Edible Arrangements’ partnership with the IAVA will allow us to significantly expand our efforts to recruit and employ veterans while also spreading the word that veterans have qualities that make them ideal employees and small business owners.

Our goal is to help raise awareness from coast to coast about how veterans make ideal employees, small business owners and franchisees, and provide an example of how businesses like Edible Arrangements can help.

If you are a hiring manager or a small business owner, I urge you to be open to hiring vets and to actively reach out to them.

If you are a franchising company, know that veterans make amazing franchisees and small business owners — I speak from experience!

More than anything, I hope that everyone will take the time to remember the sacrifices these brave men and women have made on our behalf and will make it your goal over the next year to do what you can to support them as they make the transition from the military back to civilian life. You will not regret that you did.

 

Likes Likes Created with Sketch. Dislikes(0)
Share
  • Charity
  • Edible Arrangements
  • food pantry
  • Master's Manna
  • Non-profit support
  • Philanthropy
  • Tariq Farid donations
  • Tariq Farid Foundation

A food drive at Master’s Manna ensures that 400 local children in need will not go hungry.

As I have written many times , I believe that with success comes a responsibility to help others. That is why the mission of the Tariq Farid Foundation is to provide support for organizations that work to relieve suffering or help individuals achieve success.

Connecticut, where the Edible Arrangements corporate offices are located, is considered one of the wealthiest states in the nation. But, as is the case in every state, in the midst of this wealth there are still those in need. That is why I am so grateful to have the resources to support nine soup kitchens and food pantries around the state of Connecticut. They are all run with extreme efficiency and by some of the most dedicated, hard-working and caring people I have come across.

Master’s Manna is one of these organizations. Located in Wallingford, CT, Master’s Manna truly stands out as amazing — even among all the other wonderful soup kitchens and food pantries that I support. They truly WOW me!

First, Master’s Manna is run by only one full-time and two part-time staff individuals who are supported by dozens and dozens of volunteers. What these dedicated people accomplish with so little is truly amazing, but I will get to that in a moment.

The first time I visited Master’s Manna, I noticed as soon as I walked in that the place is buzzing with activity. It’s friendly and welcoming and obvious that the volunteers—youth and adults alike—are happy to be there, helping.

The organization’s director, Cheryl Trzcinski, explained to me that many people who suddenly find themselves in need often hesitate to get help, even if they direly need it, because they are proud or embarrassed.

Cheryl shared with me one such story of a young woman who recently came to Master’s Manna and was visibly shaken and anxious when she walked in. After volunteers assisted the young woman, she explained that she had been coming to Master’s Manna since July, and would park in the parking lot but could not bring herself to walk through the door

Cheryl does not want anyone to suffer and makes sure that once someone in need walks through the doors of Master’s Manna they are treated with dignity. For example, the soup kitchen is called the “Family Dining Center.” Sadly, the term is fitting. Cheryl reports that the number of families with children who need assistance has steadily increased over the past few years. She says that many of the families that need help have one or both parents who are working, but still cannot make ends meet.

In addition to the Family Dining Center, Master’s Manna offers an amazing variety of services that include a food pantry, free primary health care services, eye exams, behavioral health counseling, dental services, a clothes and housewares pantry, showers and laundry facilities, and a computer lab for students and families. Master’s Manna is also an educational and vocational site for 45 differently abled students from local schools.

Master’s Manna is an amazing place and our local community is very fortunate to have them. You can find out even more about Master’s Manna, by visiting their website here.

If you have the ability and resources, I hope you will take the time to find a similar organization in your community and offer your support. You will not go unrewarded.

Volunteers work in the food pantry at Master’s Manna.
Upon retirement, Dr. Peter Rosenwald donated his equipment and his time at Master’s Manna, providing free eye exams.

 

 

Likes Likes Created with Sketch. Dislikes(0)
Share
Posted on

Seizing a chance to Pay It Forward

  • Charity
  • children
  • families
  • Non-profit support
  • Philanthropy
  • Smillow Cancer Hospital
  • Tariq Farid donations
  • Tariq Farid Foundation
  • Tommy Fund
  • Yale-New Haven Hospital

There is nothing more devastating than learning that a family member has cancer; especially if that family member is a small child. I know this first-hand because it happened to my family shortly after we had moved to the United States.

At the age of four, my youngest brother was diagnosed with leukemia. The entire family was despondent, grief-stricken and frightened for what the future would hold.

The Tommy Fund provides much needed support for families of children receiving treatment at the Smilow Cancer Hospital in New Haven.

For any family, the shock of the news and fear of what the future holds is bad enough—but this is often exacerbated by the financial burdens that go along with cancer treatment. The new reality of day to day life is filled with trips and overnight stays at the hospital.

Parents often have to choose between taking time off from work to comfort their sick child at the hospital or risk not being able to pay rent or mortgage. In addition to medical costs, there are also often travel and housing costs. Our family struggled with all of these issues during my brother’s illness.

Fortunately for us, there were organizations and volunteers who helped us through this difficult time so that my parents could focus on helping my brother through the treatments that saved his life.

To this day, I have never forgotten those who helped my family through that difficult time. That’s why I am honored that the Tariq Farid Foundation was able to add our support to the Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer.

The Tommy Fund provides emotional, educational, medical and financial support to families with children who are receiving cancer treatment out of the seventh-floor clinic that bears its name at the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The assistance the Tommy Fund provides ranges from parking passes for the hospital garage to basic living expenses such as utilities and rental or mortgage payments for families in need. In addition they offer support groups for patients, parents and siblings. They have established a “Quiet Room” as a respite area for parents; provided recreational equipment for children receiving treatment; and they sponsor annual holiday parties for patients, family and staff.

Peter Parente, the board president of the Tommy Fund, told me that they have found it typically takes around six months for families to get used to the new reality of life that includes overnight stays at the hospital, doctor appointments, and keeping a cheerful face on for their child as they suffer from chemotherapy sickness.

Thankfully, there are organizations such as the Tommy Fund ready to ease the burden to enable the parents to focus on supporting their sick child and adjust to life in and out of the hospital.

Parente explained that the Tommy Fund is almost exclusively volunteer-run and requires only small expenditures for accounting and administrative costs. Their hope is to grow the fund enough to someday support families who are fighting childhood cancer at other Connecticut hospitals.

My hope is that the support the Tariq Farid Foundation has offered will, in some small way, return the favor by helping others receive the type of help our family received when we needed it most. I also hope to bring awareness to this wonderful organization and spur others to support them as well.

To learn more about the Tommy Fund, click here. To donate to the Fund, go here.

 

Likes Likes Created with Sketch. Dislikes(0)
Share
Posted on

Saving thousands of lives with good ideas and technology

  • Charity
  • Entrepreneurship
  • innovation
  • Life Foundation
  • Non-profit support
  • opportunity
  • Pakistan
  • Philanthropy
  • Tariq Farid donations
  • Tariq Farid Foundation
  • technology

Among the many worthwhile causes that the Tariq Farid Foundation supports, some are more personal than others. A recent $10,000 contribution to the Life Foundation in Pakistan really hit close to home.

When I learned that support was needed to develop an app that could save thousands of lives every year by creating a system for safe blood donations and transfusions, I did not hesitate.

In Pakistan, blood transfusions can be costly. If someone cannot afford the cost they are unlikely to receive a transfusion, even in a life or death situation. It is estimated that as many as 12,000 to 15,000 people die each year in Pakistan that might have been saved had they had access to a blood transfusion.

Even in those situations when a family can afford a transfusion for their loved one, it is not guaranteed to be safe due to the potential for improper handling and storage.

A transfusion can result in shock or death, as I learned firsthand recently during a trip back to my native country.

Some of my family members had been involved in a terrible car accident in which two people died. One woman survived but was in critical condition when I went to visit her. She received a blood transfusion, but was given blood that had been improperly stored. She went into shock and almost died.

During this time I met Javaid Awan, a beloved local professor. Awan is battling cancer and has personally experienced the difficulty in securing blood for the transfusions during his treatment. He told me about a system he had developed through which mass emails and social media alerts would notify registered donors when a certain blood type was needed. Donors would then go to the hospital to donate blood which could then be transferred directly to the person in need.

When we talked, Awan already had hundreds of students from his university signed up as potential donors and he had created an NGO called the Life Foundation.

He says the contribution from the Tariq Farid Foundation truly is a lifesaver with global implications because this is not a problem limited to Pakistan. Many other countries face similar problems with blood storage and transfusions.

A majority of the gift to the Life Foundation will be used to develop an app for use on mobile devices and to recruit more volunteers and hospitals into the blood donation network.

The work has just begun, but I am very excited about the potential. Thanks to people like Awan, the citizens of Pakistan and other countries may soon have access to safe, untainted blood, and the unnecessary loss of life may soon become a thing of the past.

 

 

 

Likes Likes Created with Sketch. Dislikes(0)
Share
Posted on

The future of ideas, innovation and business start-ups is in good hands

  • education
  • Entrepreneurship
  • HUBCAP Wallingford
  • innovation
  • opportunity
  • Tariq Farid Foundation
  • technology

Entrepreneur Tariq Farid

Google does it. Major cities across the world do it. And now, thanks to a group of inspiring individuals, a small town of about 45,000 people in Connecticut is doing it — providing support for aspiring entrepreneurs with a small business incubator and co-working space.

HUBCAP Wallingford is the name of this special incubator, and what makes it so unique is that it is a collaboration between the local business community, entrepreneurs and the local school district designed to strengthen and expand downtown Wallingford as well as the entire state of Connecticut. Everyone wins and the community is made stronger.

The visionaries behind HUBCAP Wallingford are Dr. Salvatore Menzo, Wallingford Public Schools Superintendent; Liz Landow, Executive Director of Wallingford Center, Inc.; Vincenzo Landino, Global Community Manager, Market Edge; and Joe Mirra, the chairman of the Wallingford Economic Development Commission.

The Tariq Farid Foundation is a contributor to the project and in the time that I have spent with these individuals, it is clear that they have developed a program that could serve as a model for other communities across the United States.

They understand that technology has made it much easier to bring innovation and ideas to life. Often missing, however, are the means and resources to help today’s entrepreneurs follow their dreams and test the feasibility of their business ideas. By helping these entrepreneurs, HUBCAP is also helping the local economy and protecting the long-term health of the state’s economy.

The founders of HUBCAP also understand that often the most creative innovators and entrepreneurs can be found right in your own back yard. Given the encouragement and the resources, the youth of Wallingford are just as capable of developing the next big idea as anyone, thus the importance of the close partnership between HUBCAP and the Wallingford public school system.

In less than a year of operation, HUBCAP Wallingford has already helped 17-year-old Denisha Kuhlor turn her idea for a business into reality.

Why do I feel that the work of HUBCAP is so important?

While some private schools sit on endowments of millions or billions, many public school systems—such as Wallingford’s—struggle to find the funding for basic, much less innovative, programs. This didn’t stop Wallingford Superintendent Dr. Menzo from searching for ways to provide the opportunities, such as those provided by HUBCAP, that his students deserve and need to become competitive in today’s global marketplace.

Last night, I was honored to take part in HUBCAP Wallingford’s inaugural “Entrepreneurs Speak” series. This intimate Q&A session provided an opportunity to share my experience of starting small businesses and growing them into large, successful companies. The conversation was made great by the questions of those who attended, including entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, students and those who were simply curious to learn more.

When it was over, several people told me that they were inspired by my talk. I was very appreciative of their thoughts, however, I was the one who ended up being so impressed and inspired by what this small group of dedicated men and women have accomplished. It makes me very encouraged to know that tomorrow’s entrepreneurs are in such good hands today.

Tariq Farid Charity

 

Tariq Farid Meeting

 

 

 

Likes Likes Created with Sketch. Dislikes(0)
Share