SEE Global Impact Report: Community Impact

Originally published in SEE's Global Impact Report

SEE^® (formerly Sealed Air) is committed to making our world better than we find it. By focusing on positively impacting the communities in which we live and work, we bring this commitment to life.

Project Scientist

Through the national nonprofit Project Scientist, girls are given the tools to let their creativity flow and construct innovative solutions for everyday problems. In 2021, SEE sponsored a virtual summer camp for Project Scientist participants, which exposed girls to some of the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) aspects of a food packaging manufacturer.

Based on research that showed underserved and unidentified girls are not provided STEM opportunities that align with their talents and interests, Project Scientist was created to “change the world’s view of who a scientist is and what a scientist does.” The organization provides a community where girls are inspired through the hands-on activities they accomplish, the STEM workplaces they experience, and the STEM professionals they meet.

SEE’s sponsorship provided the opportunity for 25 girls ages 7 to 12 from under-resourced communities in Charlotte, NC, where SEE is headquartered, to engage in a weeklong virtual STEM lab about innovations in food production and delivery. Five of SEE’s female food-science employees explained their jobs and talked to the students about the lifecycle of food from growing, production, and packaging to consumption and nutrition These types of immersive learning experiences are designed to challenge and inspire girls to become problem solvers while making gains in math and science.

Meeting in a virtual instructor-led classroom, the girls conducted food-based science and engineering experiments, worked on related math problems, and participated in virtual expeditions to some of SEE’s innovation and development spaces. Virtual expeditions allow the students to picture themselves in a professional STEM environment and meet and see women who are working in STEM-related workplaces.

Gastromotiva

Already a supporter of Gastromotiva—a Brazilian-based nonprofit offering vocational kitchen training, nutrition programs, and food education—when the pandemic hit, SEE provided the organization with additional emergency support in 2021 to keep Brazilians fed during the COVID-19 crisis.

In an effort to help feed the most vulnerable in Brazil during the pandemic, Gastromotiva created a network of Solidarity Kitchens, through which current and former Gastromotiva students prepared meals inside their own homes and had them delivered to nearby communities.

Goonj 

Headquartered in India with a mission to offer disaster relief, humanitarian aid, and community development, Goonj received support from SEE to provide food rations and other essentials to disadvantaged families during the pandemic. In 2021, in response to the worsening COVID-19 crisis in India, which reached catastrophic levels, SEE provided additional funding to support the provision and delivery of food, medical kits, and other essential goods.

FareShare

FareShare, a network of charitable food redistributors in the United Kingdom, tackles hunger and food waste by collecting quality surplus food that would otherwise go to landfills and redistributing it to charity and community groups that turn it into meals. During the COVID-19 crisis, SEE supported FareShare’s efforts to deliver more food to front-line organizations providing a lifeline to those most at risk.

Vaccine Clinics

Supporting the well-being of its employees and fulfilling its long-standing commitment to serve the communities where facilities are located, SEE offered COVID-19 vaccine clinics for employees and the general public throughout 2021 and 2022 at its Charlotte, NC headquarters. SEE provided on-site vaccinations for manufacturing employees at some of the company’s larger facilities in the U.S.

Read Sealed Air's Global Impact Report here.

Learn More About Sealed Air’s ESG efforts here.