Refinishing furniture and washing passenger vans for victims of child abuse isn't listed in leasing director Nick Roth's job description. However, giving time and energy to charitable organizations during Edens & Avant's annual Service Day comes with working at the company.
On October 16th, Roth and 260 other employees volunteered at over 20 charitable organizations along the East Coast. The company closed offices for the day so that employees could help kids, needy families, animals, parks and more.
"In today's environment, now is the time to step up and get more involved in helping our communities," said Terry Brown, Edens & Avant chief executive officer. "Our theme for the day - Operation: Footprint - was all about taking that step and making a positive impression."
Covering graffiti, landscaping, painting cottages, stuffing packets, installing siding and roofing on Habitat for Humanity homes, packaging food, picking up trash and feeding families were some of the activities that employees participated in during the day.
"Volunteers like the employees of Edens & Avant are wonderful examples of what we call shining stars - people in the community whose love, attention and assistance make the lives of our children better," said Elizabeth Caulk, director of development at Carolina Children's Home, one of the organizations benefitting from Operation: Footprint.
The charities that collaborated with Edens & Avant were the following:
*Akron-Canton Regl. Food Bank
*American Cancer Society
*Capitol Area Food Bank
*Carolina Children's Home
*Carolina Wildlife Care
*Epworth Children's Home
*Florida Avenue Market
*Greater Boston Food Bank
*Habitat for Humanity
*Harvest Hope Food Bank
*Atlanta's Hope Care Home
*Keep the Midlands Beautiful
*Kids in Distress of Miami
*Killingsworth Home
*March of Dimes
*Palmetto Project
*Ronald McDonald House
*Second Harvest Food Bank
*St. Lawrence Place
*Virginia Blood Services
*Washington, D.C., Children's National Medical Center
"The needs of these organizations are great, but so are our opportunities," said Brown. "We put in more than 2000 community service hours. You can imagine how much work we were able to do in that time."