To volunteer with Action Ministries, go to www.actionministries.net or email Scott Smith at ssmith@actionministries.net.
To volunteer with Piedmont Park Conservancy, go to www.piedmontpark.org
Over 60 Atlanta-based Turner Construction employees rolled up their sleeves and joined forces with over 400 colleagues around the world in a day of community service.
They participated in the company’s annual Paint the Town Blue initiative, which was held on May 6 and supported Piedmont Park and Action Ministries in Atlanta.
“We build communities around the world, and Paint the Town Blue is a way for us to give back and stay connected to them,” said Theresa Schroeder, regional community affairs director of Turner Construction.
In Atlanta, Turner employees took care of general landscape maintenance projects, including maintenance around the lake, playgrounds and athletic area in Piedmont Park. Another team made and packed 1,000 lunches and Backpack Buddies snack packs for for its Smart Lunch, Smart Kid program.
The program provides meals for homeless children or those in low-income families. In Georgia, there are one million children who go hungry in the summer due to no access to free or reduced lunches from school.
“There are a lot of families and children that Action Ministries seeks to help and partners like Turner allow us continue our mission of fighting hunger and poverty in Georgia,” said Scott Smith, associate vice president of development for Action Ministries.
The lunches and backpacks Turner packed were distributed to children in Fulton and Gwinnett counties. Whether its coming into the facilities to pack or hosting a food drive to collect food items for the program, volunteers are the base of Action Ministries meeting its mission.
Paint the Town Blue started at the company’s Cleveland, Ohio office and is usually held during the fall season. Each year, projects are identified by local charitable organizations and Turner recruits its own employees to complete these tasks during a work day.
And, for the first time, this day of community service also commemorated Founder’s Day which honored the company’s 113th birthday. The company will now host two community service days per year to give back to local communities.
“It is not just about being in the office. It’s also about being in the community,” added Schroeder. “We had a lot of fun spending the day giving back to great causes and knowing that our volunteerism has made a local impact to the make the community better in some way is really meaningful.”
In other news: ADT employees volunteered their time to Meals on Wheels on May 9 to help pack and deliver meals to frail or homebound seniors, and assist in repairing and revitalizing seniors' homes. The day of giving was a part of ADT Always Cares Annual Week of Service, held from May 2-9, which is a company-wide initiative that engages ADT employees and family members who participate in volunteer events in more than 150 communities across the U.S. and Canada.
During Parkinson’s Awareness Month in April, RaceTrac team members and the Atlanta community raised funds for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Through its Coffee for a Cause initiative and encouraging guests to donate $1 with the purchase of World’s Finest Chocolate bars, RaceTrac also hosted the Fourth Annual Run for Research 5K, which had more than 1,500 participants from RaceTrac and the community. These combined efforts raised more than $480,000 for MJFF for Parkinson’s research.
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