Unilever Employees Improve Local Parks

Employees at 14 Unilever facilities across the country and Puerto Rico today are swapping pens for power tools to spend part of their workday building 52 sustainable lumber picnic tables and park benches and donating them to 10 national parks. Today’s event is part of Unilever’s partnership with the National Park Foundation, the official nonprofit partner of the National Park Service. It is also part of Unilever’s corporate commitment to support and honor the volunteer initiatives of their employees.

“Not all employees can make time to volunteer, so we decided to use company time to bring volunteering to them,” said Charles Strauss, president of Unilever U.S. “Our purpose in Unilever is to meet the everyday needs of people everywhere. To succeed at this requires the highest standards of corporate behavior towards our employees, consumers and the societies and world in which we live. Our efforts during National Volunteer Recognition Week and National Park Week support our long-standing commitment to make a difference in the communities in which we operate.”

For more than seven years Unilever, in partnership with the National Park Foundation, has sponsored Recycling at Work, a commitment of more than $10 million in donations and in kind support for the National Parks. Plastic packaging that would otherwise be dumped into landfills has been converted into park benches, bridges, ramadas and boardwalks for 60+ National Parks. A Day for the Parks complements the corporation’s ongoing commitment to protect the environment.

“Unilever has long been a partner of the National Park Foundation,” said Jim Maddy, President of the National Park Foundation. “This long-standing commitment to the environment and conservation is rooted in their core philosophy ‘Shared World, Shared Responsibility. “Their commitment to the environment is not just words on paper. The company has a proven record of support for the National Parks and we are delighted to be working together.”

The National Park Foundation honors, enriches and expands the legacy of private philanthropy that helped create and continues to sustain America’s National Parks.

April 22-28, 2001 is both National Park Week and National Volunteer Recognition Week.