FALL 2018
» The science of food and beverage
High-tech Food Safety How Blockchain and DNA analysis can change the game
AbsolutLY ENGAGING
CULINARY ADVENTURE CO.
The vodka giant taps into Toronto pride
Putting the spotlight on local Canadian cuisine
CONTENTS
FOOD SAFETY
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Blockchain technology can be used to improve food traceability.
NEWS BITES
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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT How government grants and loans can support your business’ growth.
Cover photo courtesy of Culinary Adventure Co. 2
feature story
TRENDING NOW Absolut Vodka connects with customers in new ways.
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FALL 2018
Canadian Food Business
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A TASTE OF... The Culinary Adventure Co. tells the story of Canada through food tours.
GUEST EDITORIAL
The
PUBLISHER & CEO Christopher J. Forbes cforbes@jesmar.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Theresa Rogers
MANAGING EDITOR Popi Bowman pbowman@jesmar.com CONTRIBUTORS
Manav Gupta Jana Manolakos Theresa Rogers Jeff Shepherd
EDITORIAL INTERN
Ethan Kwan
ART DIRECTOR Katrina Teimo kteimo@jesmar.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Charlene Everest ceveresti@jesmar.com SECRETARY/TREASURER Susan A. Browne MARKETING Stephanie Wilson MANAGER swilson@jesmar.com VP OF PRODUCTION Roberta Dick robertad@jesmar.com PRODUCTION Crystal Himes MANAGER chimes@jesmar.com ACCOUNT Chris Forbes MANAGER cforbes@jesmar.com
Canadian Food Business is published 6 times per year by Jesmar Communications Inc., 30 East Beaver Creek Rd., Suite 202, Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 1J2. 905.886.5040 Fax: 905.886.6615 www.canadianfoodbusiness.com. One year subscription and circulation enquiries: Fax: 905.509.0735 On occasion, our list is made available to organizations whose products or services may be of interest to you. If you’d rather not receive information, write to us at the address above or call 905.509.3511 The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in part or in whole without the written consent of the publisher. GST Registration #R124380270.
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“munchie”effect On the day marijuana became legal, nine-year-old Elina Child from Alberta sold a wagon load of Girl Guide cookies in front of a cannabis store, going through about 30 boxes in just 45 minutes, while capitalizing on the “munchie” effect – a keen reminder to food producers and distributors that success follows those who know their customers. And when consumer habits change, so do market strategies. Young Elina’s instincts were right; her customers would eventually want – perhaps even need – a quick food fix. Beyond the research on THC (the compound in cannabis that triggers appetite), there’s a load of data showing that when Canadians get hungry, they want convenience. It’s a change in behaviour that’s been observed for the past few decades – remember TV dinners? But now it’s dramatically disrupting traditional food distribution channels. Statistics Canada reported this summer that food and beverage retailers continue to face sustained competition from convenience and specialty stores, where sales have risen significantly in the last three years. The competition gets even more heated with e-commerce and the advent of grab-and-go food products. With the likes of Amazon and a host of ready-made and easy-toprepare food distributors like SkiptheDishes, HelloFresh and Uber Eats, customers who shop in grocery stores could become an endangered species. Canadians want convenience. In the annual Canada’s Food Price Report, researchers at Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph estimate the average Canadian family will increase its food-away-from-home expenses by almost eight per cent in 2018, with the average home expected to spend almost 30 per cent of its food budget in food service – the highest level in history. Today’s grocery stores have split the traditional stacked green peppers and dried kidney beans, to also provide complete meal solutions for people with hectic daily lives (case in point: President’s Choice Blue Menu peeled hardboiled eggs, which “take all the prep time and work out of nutritious snacking on the go”). The Food Price Report says that this phenomenon can be explained by how consumers view and manage their relationship with food; people eat out, eat on the go, or eat at their desks more often than ever before. Meals, in the traditional sense, are slowly disappearing in Canada. Convenience is now trumping price as a key decision factor for an increasing number of consumers. And legal access to weed – albeit highly regulated – may very well add to churning consumer behaviours. Like Elina, the food business should embrace new strategies and new technologies so it can stay aligned with demand – even if it means hitching your wagon to the cannabis craze.
Sincerely
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR CANADIAN FOOD BUSINESS
Jana Manolakos
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NEWS BITES
food EVENTS 2018 November 9-11 Food & Drink Fest FirstOntario Centre Hamilton, ON www.foodanddrinkfest.com November 13-17 NB Spirits Festival Delta Fredericton Hotel Fredericton, NB www.whiskynb.ca November 15 Beer Experience: Fresh Hop Fest 315 Queen Street East Toronto, ON www.beerexperience.ca
Food and Beverage Ontario Calls for Repeal of Bill 148 Food and Beverage Ontario (FBO) is calling for the repeal of labour reforms introduced by Bill 148, Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act 2017, citing concerns that reforms by the previous government came too fast without adequate consultation. The group, representing an industry with more than 3,600 businesses, says the bill could lead to job losses, compromise food safety and animal welfare, and challenge job creation, adding that Ontario business competitiveness and success is also at risk. “Our processor members are seeking opportunities to expand, grow and invest in businesses, not shutter them,” says Michael Burrows, Chair, FBO. The organization believes this is an ideal time for the new provincial government to consult with Ontario food and beverage processors and other businesses. Among concerns raised is the need for four days notice of shift change, which the group says will lead to compromised food safety and increased food waste, among other impacts. It also says that providing 10 personal emergency leaves and eliminating the need for a doctor’s note increases labour costs and absenteeism, while impacting the safety of the workplace. The push for equal pay for agency temporary help, seasonal workers and part-time workers challenges the value of full-time employment, it says. The FBO also believes that consolidation of bargaining units will make companies less inclined to accommodate specific regional requests, and that lowering the threshold to 20 per cent for a union to request a certification vote impacts employee rights.
November 22-25 Gourmet Food & Wine Expo Metro Toronto Convention Centre Toronto, ON www.foodandwineexpo.ca
New Scholarship Awards to Bridge Gender
2019 Gap in Manufacturing
January 8-10 Banff Pork Seminar Fairmont Banff Springs Banff, AB www.banffpork.ca
March 27-28 Canadian Food and Drink Summit Metro Toronto Convention Centre Toronto, ON www.conferenceboard.ca/ conf/foodsummit
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Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) has teamed up with Fiera Foods on a new scholarship awards program for women in manufacturing, in a bid to encourage more women to enter the sector. Starting this year until 2020, a total of 10 scholarships each in the amount of $4,000 will be awarded to women who are planning to pursue a career in manufacturing. “The manufacturing sector offers rewarding, innovative and lucrative careers for women but, unfortunately, only less than six per cent of women choose that path. This needs to change,” says Rhonda Barnet, National Board of Directors Chair, CME, and President & COO of Steelworks Design. “The women in manufacturing scholarship awards will help shape the female role models of tomorrow and will be instrumental in bridging the gender gap.” Boris Serebryany, President and CEO of Fiera Foods, says, “By partnering with CME, we’re excited to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our scholarship recipients so they can help shape the future of the sector.” The scholarships will be awarded to Canadian female students who are pursuing post-secondary studies or apprenticeships in a field relevant to manufacturing and are planning to join the manufacturing workforce after graduation. Participants submitted their applications and 1,000-word essays explaining their interest in a manufacturing career in September. Scholarship winners will be announced on November 7 as part of the CME 2018 Annual General Meeting and Manufacturing Conference.
Canadian Food Business
TRENDING NOW
AbsolutLY ENGAGING FOOD AND BEVERAGE MANUFACTURERS FIND AND CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS IN NEW WAYS By Theresa Rogers
WHEN
Absolut Vodka is looking to engage customers, it looks for new partners and new ways to connect with them. Like in every other aspect of life, connections mean everything, and these days, many connections are cemented online. After seeing someone at an event wearing a sweater from Toronto urbanwear brand Patriarch Supply, Danielle Yoon, Brand Ambassador for Absolut Vodka in Ontario, says she immediately fell in love with its design and culturally inclusive brand identity. She followed the company on Instagram and sent a proposal via direct message. The result was the release of special-edition tank tops for influencers to wear last June during Pride Month – a first of its kind collaborative project for Absolut in Canada. “We want to support local brands who believe in our shared vision of using creativity for positive change,” Yoon says. Absolut speaks to many of the beliefs Patriarch Supply was built upon, confirms Phil Nguyen, who co-founded the clothing company one year ago with his brother, Benny. “We believe that equality and diversity are the foundations that build our city, and Absolut also upholds and promotes these values.” Aside from staying on top of the latest trends in fashion and design, Nguyen says pursuing new collaborations with local talent and partners that the company believes in, is one way to stay fresh. Yoon says Absolut has always strived to be part of shaping culture with progressive individuals versus being on the sidelines. In May, it wrapped up a series of events called “Absolut Nights,” partnering with inclusive nightlife communities in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, where
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Benny (left) and Phil Nguyen. proceeds from ticket sales of each event were donated to the partner’s charity of choice. The flagship event in Toronto featured a panel discussion with social innovators in the nightlife community on how nightlife can be a catalyst for progressive change, followed by an epic party where proceeds were given to Rainbow Railroad, a charity which helps LGBTQ individuals escape violence and persecution in their home countries. Absolut has also collaborated on events with Terus, a female-led startup which helps restaurants and bars reduce their environmental footprint. There’s something coming globally as well. Partnerships and events like these, as well as social media, are a growing force for food and beverage manufacturers. “Social media has become a democratizing marketing tool for all brands,” says Kathy Perrotta, VicePresident of Marketing with Ipsos Canada. “The advent of social media has been embraced by most food and beverage manufacturers, both big and small, enabling ongoing interaction and relationship building with customer communities.” Perrotta says businesses like Absolut and Patriarch Supply are also each extending their reach through “cause marketing” where companies adopt the multi-purpose approach of increasing profitability and awareness while bettering society through the support of various philanthropic and social causes. With a small company mostly targeting Millennials, events and social media are the primary channels Nguyen uses to promote, create awareness and encourage engagement with Patriarch Supply. Partnering with an internationally recognized brand is a new platform to reach more followers with whom the startup’s vision resonates. “Absolut upholds and champions positive, impactful and progressive values,” he says, “including celebrating everyone’s distinct differences while empowering them to also express themselves freely as unique individuals.” To borrow a line from both Nguyen and Yoon, there is strength in diversity. Joining forces and recognizing the power of that diversity to grow a customer base – what business wouldn’t want to be associated with that?
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Canadian Food Business
54%
of consumers regularly seek information on food and beverage products, an increase of 3% since 2016. Among those consumers,
60%
use online technologies to fuel their information needs, including accessing social media platforms.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
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ns a h o d l rowt n a ’g s t an ness r g i nt bus e erd m r eph rn t you h S e v Jeff By go ppor w Ho n su ca
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manufacturing is one of the most actively targeted sectors when it comes to Canadian government funding. Our federal and provincial governments invest in companies that improve their workforce productivity, integrate advanced equipment and reach new export markets; agrifood companies are constantly completing these types of projects, and therefore have significant opportunity to leverage grants and loans. Given the amount of government funding available to the agri-food sector, it’s surprising that less than half of food and beverage manufacturers use these incentives. It’s a missed opportunity to expand project budgets by hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Often business leaders and executives have little understanding of how these programs work or the true value that they can provide. Although it can be confusing to navigate the government funding landscape, taking some time to research and develop a shortlist of programs is often the best place to start. This article serves as a good starting point for this funding discovery; it will help you understand the basics of government funding while also uncovering some of the top available programs.
How Can Canadian Government Funding Support Food Manufacturers? Forward-planning food manufacturers can leverage Canadian government grants and loans to offset the costs of upcoming projects. There are a variety of project types that these programs can support, including: •
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Productivity and Growth: Capital investment projects such as facility construction and equipment purchases. Food manufacturer Hain Celestial Group, Inc., was recently awarded nearly $1.4 million in productivity and growth grants to construct a new production facility. Hiring and Training: Workforce development projects such as hiring recent post-secondary graduates and training groups of employees, either internally or by a third-party trainer. Abate Rabbit Packers will receive up to $25,000 in government grants to invest in new production equipment and hire skilled butchers as part of a larger expansion project. Research and Development: Innovative discovery-based projects such as developing new products or processes, either internally or as part of a research partnership. Ontario’s EarthFresh Farms was recently awarded nearly $250,000 in government grants to research innovative processing methods that detect product defects. Market Expansion: Export market development projects such as participating in trade shows and translating packaging or other promotional materials. Last year, probiotic company Bio-K Plus International received up to $50,000 in funding to further penetrate the U.S. market.
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RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Canadian Government Funding Programs for Agri-Food Businesses Some top small business grants and loans to fuel the success of food processors include: AgriMarketing Grants for Trade Shows AgriMarketing is an export marketing grant that helps Canadian agriculture, agri-food, and agriproduct businesses promote and differentiate their products internationally. Its funding supports a portion of costs related to export markets development projects, including participation in trade shows and top industry events.
Through the AgriMarketing Program, Canadian agri-businesses may receive up to 50% of project costs to a maximum $50,000 per year. AgriInnovate Funding for Technology Adoption The AgriInnovate Program provides Canadian government funding to help agri-sector businesses demonstrate/commercialize (or adopt) innovative products, technologies, processes or services. By offsetting a portion of eligible project costs, companies can invest more into innovations that increase agri-sector competitiveness and sustainability.
Companies accessing AgriInnovate funding may receive repayable funding of up to 50% of eligible project costs to a maximum $10 million.
Canada Job Grant for Employee Training The Canada Job Grant provides training grants to help employers enhance their workforce by upskilling new and existing employees. By implementing third-party training, employers can support the development of a more skilled and productive organization.
Employers can offset third-party training costs to a maximum of $10,000 in grants per trainee. Depending on the province your business operates in, the Canada Job Grant may prioritize certain types of training and provide different levels of funding support. For example, in Ontario large businesses (100+ employees) may only receive up to 50 per cent of training costs. Small businesses (99 employees or less) may qualify for up to 83 per cent of training costs or up to 100 per cent if the training involves new hires. Industrial Research Assistance Program for R&D The Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) is designed to accelerate the research and development projects of Canadian innovators. Businesses that are developing and implementing process improvements are the primary targets to receive research grants through IRAP; however, large-scale technology adoption projects that lead to new capabilities are also considered.
The recently expanded IRAP research funding program now offers Canadian food manufacturers $50,000 to $10 million in government grants.
Jeff Shepherd is the Marketing Coordinator at Mentor Works Ltd., a business support organization specializing in the development of strategic government funding plans. Mentor Works has helped thousands of businesses across Canada discover and leverage funding to optimize their growth.
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FOOD SAFETY
TRACKING ORIGINS
SAFER FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS ARE POSSIBLE WITH BLOCKCHAIN By Manav Gupta
FOOD
sustains us all. But food supply chains worldwide remain riskladen, with 77 million people in the Americas falling ill every year from contaminated food, resulting in an estimated 9,000 deaths annually according to the World Health Organization. Of those who fall ill, 31 million are under the age of five, and more than 2,000 of these children die as a result of a foodborne illness each year. Canada is not immune to food supply chain issues. From May 1 through June 15 alone, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued 19 food recall warnings on items ranging from smoked salmon and microgreens to chicken burgers and baby food pouches. The challenge is that many traditional supply chain transactions around the world remain tied to inefficient, expensive and vulnerable processes that have seen little innovation in decades. When it comes to food safety, providing transparency is critical to keeping the trust of everyone in the food ecosystem – from suppliers to growers to retailers to consumers. Consumers increasingly demand to know more information regarding where products are made and what they contain. They want to ensure that the food they consume is safe. Critical issues such as contamination, foodborne illness, waste and the economic burden of recalls impact food safety. Many of these challenges arise from a lack of access to information and traceability. Food traceability is becoming increasingly important in Canada. Under Canada’s upcoming Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, businesses will have to maintain records that identify food products, trace the food “one step back to the supplier” and “one step forward to whom the product was sold” and “identify and trace back the ingredients and the derived meat product used to make the food.” Even with stronger regulations, the challenge remains that some of these processes can take weeks to identify the precise point of contamination, causing both further illness and wasted products. The Centre for Disease Control estimates it takes about two to four weeks to trace a person’s illness to confirm they were part of an outbreak, such as salmonella. Precisely identifying the farm source of a contamination can take much longer. Thankfully, technology exists today that can help greatly reduce these timelines and stem the spread of foodborne illnesses. Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology, will fundamentally transform how companies interact and do business together. Blockchain is ideally suited to address food supply chain safety challenges because it establishes a trusted environment for all transactions.
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FOOD SAFETY
Blockchain creates an unchangeable and shared record of transactions among multiple parties in a secure, permanent manner. As assets change hands or are updated, they remain within an unbroken chain of trust. For example, in the food supply chain, blockchains help digitally trace and authenticate food products as they move from farm to processor to distributor to retailer. This process provides greater transparency across the full ecosystem of suppliers, minimizes waste and helps better allocate inventory. Each record is time-stamped and appended to the preceding event. In this example, blockchain can provide all parties with secure Each piece of information can provide and universal, permissioned visibility into all transactions, critical data points that potentially reveal creating an end-to-end view of an individual product all the way food safety issues with the product. from the source to the consumer. This data is shared in a trusted and transparent manner across the entire network. All participants in the global food supply chain – growers, suppliers, processors, distributors, retailers, regulators, and consumers – can gain permissioned access to known and trusted information regarding the origin and state of food for their transactions. This helps food providers and other members of the ecosystem stem the spread of illnesses by using a blockchain network to trace contaminated products to their source in a short amount of time. Major consumer food brands are working with IBM to identify new areas where the global supply chain can benefit from blockchain. IBM has also completed multiple pilots with Walmart in the U.S. and China that successfully demonstrate ways in which blockchain can positively impact global food traceability. Results show blockchain’s ability to shorten the time to track produce from six days to two seconds. With blockchain playing a quality assurance role, food products can be digitally tracked at every stage of the supply chain from suppliers to store shelves, and ultimately to consumers. Digital product information, such as farm origination details, lot numbers, factory and processing data, expiration dates and shipping details are digitally recorded on the blockchain. Each piece of information can provide critical data points that potentially reveal food safety issues with the product. Equally as important, the information captured in each transaction is agreed upon by all members of the business network. Once there is a consensus, it becomes a permanent record that cannot be altered. This permanence ensures that all information about the chain is accurate and agreed upon by all members of the network. The record created in the blockchain can also help retailers better manage the shelf-life of products in individual stores, and further strengthen safeguards related to food authenticity. In consumer industries, 18 per cent of organizations are currently using blockchain for product safety and authenticity. This number will only increase as food providers and other members of the supply chain ecosystem begin to securely trace contaminated products to their source in shorter amounts of time, effectively stemming the penetration of foodborne illnesses. If blockchain’s trust, visibility and efficiency can help us grow a healthier food supply chain, this is one good tech application that is in everyone’s best interest to explore.
Blockchain technology can be used to improve food traceability by providing trusted information on the origin and state of food. Pictured is a crate of oranges being scanned as part of a food safety blockchain. Photo Credit: Connie Zhou for IBM
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Manav Gupta is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Master Inventor.
Photo courtesy of Culinary Adventure Co.
A TASTE OF...
HAVE YOU SEEN CHANGES IN THE WAY PEOPLE RESPOND TO FOOD? People are being re-engaged with food. Convenience and technology are improving the quality, whether that’s a bowl of quinoa and proteins in beautiful salads, instantly created for you at the lunch counter, or you’re grabbing something for home. But people also want to enjoy a story. Companies, restaurants and producers have recognized that instead of connecting with consumers on the science of food, they are connecting through stories and traditions.
BEFORE THE CULINARY ADVENTURE CO., YOU OWNED CHEESEWERKS, A TORONTO RESTAURANT THAT SPECIALIZED IN ARTISANAL CHEESE-BASED FOODS. DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED CANADIAN CHEESE?
The Culinary Adventu re Co. Telling the story of Canada through food
I like cheese, and Canadian cheese is one of the most underappreciated Canadian success stories. One of my favourites is Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar from Cows Creamery, Prince Edward Island. It’s rich, creamy and buttery, with delicate notes of a young parmesan or mid-aged pecorino. As you pull back the cloth after about 18 months, it reveals this beautiful supple, white, gorgeous cheddar. You get a firm, crumbly, almost butterscotch kind of texture when you put it into your mouth and let it melt. In 2015, it was awarded the world’s best cheddar, demonstrating that Canada, with its bounty of dairy, agriculture, land and passion for food, can compete and win on the international stage.
HOW IS DIVERSITY REFLECTED IN CANADIAN FOODS?
passion for food and the warm memories of his mother’s basement bakery in Smiths Falls, Ontario, launched Kevin Durkee on a journey to discover Canada’s greatest food stories, and led to his purchase of the Culinary Adventure Co. in 2014. As one of the nation’s largest food tours, the family-owned and -operated company offers gastronomic excursions in six Canadian cities – Halifax, Charlottetown, Ottawa, Kingston, Toronto, and Winnipeg – led by culinary professionals, all of them intrepid foodies committed to delivering memories and an experience in which “every bite tells a story.” We caught up with Durkee between cities.
Our Chinatown and Kensington Market food tour in Toronto is the number-one food tour in Canada, highlighted in Forbes as one of the nine best food tours in the world. This success lies in the diversity, the eclectic nature of Kensington. It’s a Canadian national historical site with as many as 86 different countries represented. Packed with delicious stories, it’s quirky, fun and dramatic. On our Winnipeg tour we tell the story of bannock, unleavened bread that was pervasive across the Indigenous and First Nations communities. We show its evolution when Irish and Scottish immigrants brought refined flour and sugar. The bannock we serve on tour is unique, studded with spectacular black wild rice reflective of the region and the marshy lands around the Assiniboine and Red rivers.
WHAT INFLUENCES TASTES IN FOOD?
WHAT PUTS CANADIAN FOOD ON THE MAP?
At the Culinary Adventure Company, we truly believe things taste better when you know where they’ve come from. It’s absolutely the farm-to-table experience: the story of where the product is grown, how it’s manufactured, what field or tree or bush it came from and how it comes to the plate. My mother and her mother were always big fans of food and sharing and making food with recipes passed down for generations. When you know where that recipe comes from and why it’s important, it makes things taste better and it makes Canada more unique.
There is something for everyone in Canada and the diversity within our country, our social and culinary network shows the world why we are such a great nation. It’s becoming more regional: the wine, fruit, cheese, beef, and dairy in Ontario and Quebec; the dedicated beef industry in the Prairie provinces, and the seafood on our coasts. When someone sits down to a Canadian meal, no matter where it’s been foraged, fished or farmed, it’s going to be prepared by people with a story to tell – the story of diversity, inclusiveness and a love for family.
By Jana Manolakos
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