A few of the staff from Novamen volunteering at the Ronald McDonal House   //    Photo courtesy of Novamen Inc.  //    Novamen profile written by Ryan Charles Parker

By “good” we mean excellence in corporate social responsibility (CSR). In Red Deer and district, many businesses don’t just do well, they are doing good things for their employees and their community. It’s established knowledge that in order for businesses to succeed, alongside the attention paid to their bottom line, they need to demonstrate a caring attitude to the people within and outside the organization.

Corporate social responsibility can take many forms. For some businesses, CSR is demonstrated by giving employees paid time off to volunteer at a favourite cause. In other workplaces, employers plan a “day of giving” where everyone pitches in to raise funds through a community event or to volunteer skills and knowledge to a non-profit organization in need of their expertise. Another example is the office that engages in online giving through platforms such as Benevity.com.

However a business chooses to express its engagement with a particular charity, cause, or community issue, Volunteer Central wishes to honour the good businesses and their people who strive to make a difference while making their bottom line. In the spirit of GivingTuesday, we’d like to recognize our first recipient of the Good Business of the Month, Novamen Inc.

A business has no obligation in our society to give back to the community. Any company that does help the community does so by good intention. It’s a choice. And Novamen makes such a choice.

“Novamen is the Latin word for innovation,” explains CEO Darren Lamothe.” And we are a chemical manufacturing and distribution company, focused on the Western Canadian oil and gas, mining and industrial markets.”

But Novamen does more than just that. As President Kerri Tisdale says, “we believe that being an ethical business is not only a priority but is the foundation for the decisions we make. Businesses are incredibly impactful to our society and we are each accountable to whether our impact is positive or negative. Being ethical ensures that the focus is on positive impact.”

It is one thing to say that. Doing so is easy. It is quite another to actually back your words up with actions. Novamen does just that and its employees firmly put their money and time where their mouth is.

“Novamen has a budget for corporate donations but also a program that financially supports causes that reflect the concerns or interests of each individual employee,” Tisdale declares. “These can be sports teams, foundations or charity organizations. Novamen is grateful to work with a team that share this particular core value.”

Novamen works with many charities: they help Meals on Wheels which prepares and brings meals to those who may not be able to get out and do it themselves.

They support Ronald McDonald Houses, which provides homes for families of sick children so that their family can stay closer to the hospitals at which their kids are being treated.

They help prepare some meals for The Red Deer Warming Centre. The Centre provides a warm place for the homeless to stay instead of having to struggle in the streets, and is funded by The City of Red Deer. But lack of funds often means that the Centre cannot always provide meals. So Novamen employees take one or two days out of their month to help make and serve nutritious meals for those that are disadvantaged.

They are committed to supporting the Red Deer Regional Health Foundation. They have been a Gold Sponsor of the Festival of Trees Business Luncheon since 2016.

All of this is just a brief overview of the help that Novamen does in the community. This is by no means exhaustive, as they offer support to many other causes. Everything from sponsoring sports teams to donating to Central Alberta Women’s Emergency Shelter, Novamen is a good example of a business that cares about the community. For more information about Novamen, visit  www.novamen.ca

Each month, we will feature a local business who is doing good for the community through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). If you know of a business doing good for our neighbourhoods, tell us about them at [email protected]