Sustainability goes beyond just the environment, it includes community.
At MET, we’re firm believers that the more you give, the more you get back. Since our earliest days, we’ve been proud to support a number of charitable initiatives and non-profit organizations throughout the Vancouver area. And we continue to lend more helping hands than we have fingers to count with. Here’s where we’re making an impact today:
We were recognized with an Ethics in Action award, the first printer to receive this honor.
WE PLAY WITH OUR FOOD
In 2002 MET founded Canstruction® Vancouver, an innovative worldwide hunger project that aims to feed hungry people in local communities, now established in over 180 competitions worldwide. For 10 years MET has brought together corporate teams, graphic designers, architects, engineers, and volunteers in a design and build competition to create hugely creative sculptures from canned food.
To date we have raised over 1,145,000 cans of food for our Greater Vancouver Foodbanks, worth over $2,285,000. March 2011 saw our committee and amazing group of corporate and school teams crack our million can barrier. This year we have 19 teams on display from March 26 thru April 4th at 4 locations on W. Georgia street in Vancouver. Anchored in the HSBC Pendulum Art Gallery, the displays will be discovered in the The Four Seasons Hotel, HSBC Pendulum Gallery, the FortisBC building and Flour Building at Thurlow and W.Georgia Street. This is our single largest initiative; a percentage of our gross revenues goes to support this amazing event. This event is considered by the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society as the single largest injection of protein to their shelves each year. MET provided committee members, organizing committees, Teams, Fundraising and MET Resource crafted and implemented a comprehensive Marketing Strategy to raise awareness and drive people to the event. The Campaign utilized MET Resource’s multi-platform capabilities. The Campaign included a fun and engaging Website, Vancouver SUN, CKNW98 Radio, Global TV, 280 Elevator Video screens, 4 large outdoor Video screens, Twitter and Facebook campaigns . This is a printer? Makes you think they may have some other hidden talents?
MET is a longtime participant of the BC Lions Society 24 Hour Relay for the Kids, for which MET employees have raised more than $225,000 to send disabled kids to summer camps.
We’re a longtime participant in the Vancouver Sun Run.
Our generous donations have resulted in the purchase of more than 300 books and videos for Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.
MET was the first corporate site in Canada to host a guide dog in training through the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
We’ve donated our printing services to the Disabled Skiers Association of BC, Children’s Hospital, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Operation Smile — to name a few.
We donate our services “at cost” to help the arts and marketing community as a whole, including the Vancouver Symphony, Vancouver Art Gallery, and NABS (National Advertising Benevolent Society).
However, nowhere is our corporate responsibility more prevalent than right here in our own office. We’ve created an ethical work environment for employees — from profit sharing opportunities to ongoing training — so that, in turn, they can become well rounded and more engaged in their work. Employees have responded by staying with us longer and longer, a number celebrating over 20 years with us.
MET Business Community
How our people are helping their people.
We understand the importance of the field we’re in. We see the bigger picture and we look far beyond the print process. This is why we support the Graphic Design and Business communities, because ultimately, they’re the reason why we’re able to be successful in the first place. Drum roll, please.
We’re the longest running print sponsor with the Graphic Designers of Canada, BC Chapter, in fact GDC/BC created a Platinum Sponsor Level for us.
We proudly support the GDC/BC Vancouver Island Chapter through sponsorship and print services.
Metropolitan co-founded the Salazar Award Scholarship Fund with GDC/BC , awarding the prize to outstanding design students on a yearly basis. This year MET is proud to host our friend Mr. Kevin Carroll as keynote speaker for the Salazar awards. Kevin is the creative Katalyst behind many of Nike’s greatest campaigns. Now a world class motivational speaker, he is a passionate story teller and will surely inspire some great creative from our new design students.
We were the only Official Friend of the Games Print Partner for the Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic Committee for the 2010 Games (VANOC). We started out in 1997 by printing the first PR kit for the original bid committee due to our passion for the games, and have been an integral part of the team ever since.
MET was a key sponsor of the AIGA Power of Design national conference hosted in Vancouver.
Metropolitan provides ongoing skills enhancement/training to further educate those in the industry.
The company regularly hosts seminars featuring leading industry specialists or creates workshops during which the latest technologies are showcased.
We co-sponsored the TEDx conference in Vancouver 2009/2010 and recently TEDx Portland in 2011 along side Weiden + Kennedy and Nike.
