TIMBERLAND CELEBRATES EARTH DAY WITH COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS AROUND THE WORLD
Spring is a favorite time of year in New Hampshire. After long winters, spring bulbs start to bloom and bare trees get their first leaves of the season. It’s also time for Timberland employees in New Hampshire and worldwide to pull on their boots and serve their communities in celebration of Earth Day. This year, Timberland expects to engage more than 1,800 volunteers in 13,000 hours of service at 60 service projects in more than 20 countries throughout April and May as part of our 18th consecutive Earth Day celebration.
Timberland’s Path of Service™ program, which was introduced in 1992 provides full-time employees up to 40 paid hours annually to serve in their communities. As part of the Path of Service™ program, Timberland organizes two annual global service events for employees and partners: Earth Day in the spring, which focuses on environmental projects and Serv-a-palooza in the fall, which focuses on addressing community-based needs.
“Invigorating, exciting, encouraging and a challenge,” are all words that Jason Blades, Timberland’s new community service manager for North America, uses to describe planning his first Earth Day event for Timberland’s headquarters in Stratham, NH. “With more than 300 employee volunteers on our team, we have an incredible opportunity to green and grow our communities.”
Finding sites for so many volunteers to serve on one day can be a challenge. This year, Timberland’s New Hampshire volunteers will serve at six different sites in the Seacoast area. “Projects range from making trails more accessible to all and creating raised garden beds to educate and feed local communities, creating outdoor classrooms and enhancing outdoor play spaces for kids,” said Jason. “I’m so grateful for the employees who step up to help lead this effort. It confirms every day just how service-driven and passionate Team Timberland truly is.”
In addition to serving in New Hampshire, Timberland employees worldwide will serve at local Earth Day projects. Some examples of international events include:
- Almelo, Netherlands: The Timberland team in the Netherlands will focus their volunteer efforts on various projects, including gardening, painting, working with kids to build musical instruments out of recycled materials and spending time with the elderly, as well as activities to support a local farm.
- Milan, Italy: On May 25th, 60 volunteers will partner with Legambiente to contribute to the creation of an eco-sustainability oasis in the center of Milan: Cascina Nascosta (Parco Sempione). Volunteers will clean a green area, remove old structures, paint walls and plant new gardens.
- Singapore: Timberland will partner with The Nature Society, a non-profit dedicated to the natural heritage of Singapore, Malaysia and the surrounding region for a coastal cleaning project at Pulau Ubin, which is globally classified as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area. On April 30th, volunteers will remove abandoned drift nets and marine debris that choke up the Ubin coastline, ensuring that wildlife has the proper environment to thrive.
“As a company that believes in the power of people to transform the world, each year Timberland employees are joined by business partners and consumers to help make a difference,” said Atlanta McIlwraith, senior manager, community engagement and communications for Timberland. “Service is a source of pride for our employees and for our company around the globe. We all shine when we give back to our communities.”