At Teranet, we believe in the power of community and the profound impact that each individual can have when they give back. Our Employee Community Spotlight series celebrates the dedicated efforts of our team members who go above and beyond to make a difference. This month, we are excited to feature Sudha Chari, our Director of Solutions and Partner Management, who exemplifies what it means to be a compassionate and engaged community member.
What do you do at Teranet?
I am Sudha Chari, the Director of Solution and Partner Management. We are an enterprise shared service that is part of Teranet’s Data & Analytics practice. I lead a small but mighty team that is responsible for intake management for the data & analytics area, sales engineering/professional services, bespoke data solutions and data product development & operations. I joined Teranet just ahead of the pandemic first on the CMS side leading product development for KYC and Fraud & Risk products before moving into my current role. My tenure at Teranet is coming up to the 5 year mark and what keeps me going are the people that I have an opportunity to work with each day. When I am not working or organizing TeraLife Toronto social events, you will likely see me curled up with a book or more so in the recent past, trying different cuisines (apparently I am a foodie). Reading though is my life-long passion.
Second Harvest Canada & Why they matter
Second Harvest is Canada’s largest food rescue charity that operates in every province and territory. Since 1985, Second Harvest has been rescuing fresh, surplus food that would otherwise go to waste and delivering that food to people experiencing hunger. Second Harvest’s food rescue program prevents good surplus food from being wasted by collecting it and redistributing it to non-profits working to feed people in need. Getting the surplus food to people has the added benefit of reduced greenhouse gases as otherwise the food would go to landfills.
To put things in perspective:
· Nearly 1 in 4 people don’t know where their next meal is coming from
· 46.5% of all food in Canada is lost or wasted every year; 41.7% of this could be redirected to support Canadians
· The amount of food wasted in Canada is enough to feed every Canadian for 5 months
· Canadian households waste $1,766 in food every year
· Food waste costs Canada $49 billion per year
· Food sent to landfills creates a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more harmful to the environment than CO2. 124.5B pounds of greenhouse gases created annually from wasted food – the same as 17.3 million cars.
Second Harvest’s 2023 Results
· 363M worth of food rescued and redistributed
· 288M pounds of greenhouse gases averted from the atmosphere
· 245K meals provided daily
· 6.5M people supported through 4,400 non-profit partners
Second Harvest is one of Teranet’s approved charities. The TeraLife Toronto social committees (both past and present) have over the past several years organized volunteer days as well as raised funds in support of Second Harvest.
Since 2008, Teranet has raised over $129,000 for Second Harvest, which has helped them rescue over 390,909 pounds of food and avert over 1,323,229 pounds of GHGs from the atmosphere. For context, that’s enough food to provide 3 meals to 32,575 families of four.
What drove your passion to get involved?
I have long wanted to give back to the community, but most often this was via participating in events hosted by the organizations I was working for (e.g. United Way campaigns) or through donations to charities. At Teranet, when I took on the role of chairperson of the social committee in 2022, I had the pleasure of meeting with people from Second Harvest, understanding the magnitude of the food waste challenge and the incredible efforts taken by Second Harvest to combat the same.
When you participate in a volunteer event at Second Harvest, they take you through a quiz regarding food waste. We learnt that the food wasted, if piled up could be as tall as 37 (or so) CN Towers. Hold that image in mind! Then contrast it with the other visuals surrounding you – the increased homelessness (you can’t miss that if you are in downtown Toronto) and the people asking for help as you drive past intersections in the city. Add on Statistics Canada’s data that 8.7 million Canadians (including 2.1 million children) lived in food-insecure households in 2023. Is it not sheer insanity to waste food!
My interaction with Second Harvest brought home to me the magnitude of food waste. Personally, in my own home, I try to be careful when purchasing or discarding food. As a member of the TeraLife Toronto committee, we have tried to make a difference. In the past 1.5 years, we have organized teams to participate in food sort events where we have sorted an incredible 9,200 pounds of produce. Through participation in the Second Harvest Truck Pull Challenge and fund raising events we have raised almost $10,719 or 32,000 meals for families in need.
How can others get involved with Second Harvest Canada?
It’s quite simple, really – participate! I would encourage my fellow Teraneters to participate in the volunteering and fund raising events hosted by TeraLife! Teranet supports and makes it easy to give back to the community – for those colleagues that may not be aware of Teranet’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, Teranet provides you the opportunity to take up to 1 day paid time off for volunteer activities as well as make a request for a charitable contribution. Regarding Second Harvest – you can visit the Second Harvest web-site to see all the different ways you can contribute (donate, volunteer, etc.).
And of course, feel free to reach out to me should you wish to know more about Second Harvest, TeraLife volunteering events and how you can contribute to the cause.
