Maroochy Waterwatch will be one of many worthy organisations given a helping hand on Thursday 23 September when the Lend Lease Group holds their annual Community Day.
Lend Lease Community Day encourages all Lend Lease employees around the world to give something back to the communities in which they live and work.
Employees nominate their own project and create small teams to work with the community group or cause. Activities can include helping senior citizens, the homeless people, people with disabilities, the environment, working with children/youth and animals.
Community Day is about using employees’ time, energy and skills, and the experience helps to create a strong team spirit, and employees unanimously agree – this is an immensely rewarding experience.
Around 20 employees from the Lend Lease Group will converge along the banks of the Maroochy River on 23 September to carry out a sweep of the river – removing litter and debris harmful to the environment.
Cerran Fawns, Manager of Maroochy Waterwatch said, “Partnering with Lend Lease to help remove rubbish from the river is a great outcome for the environment and also for the corporate social responsibility of Lend Lease”.
She added, “Last year a whole ute load of rubbish was removed from around the Cod Hole and it was quite an eye opener for the employees”.
Sarah Hodgkins team leader of the group said the River Sweep project was chosen because we value the environment that we live in and that by working together we have the ability to make a change in the way we view and treat our own “patch” of planet Earth.
“Sunshine Plaza is a unique shopping centre in that it is built around a natural waterway. Cornmeal Creek runs through our property so we are very mindful of the impact of environmental damage and we see the visual consequences of littering.”
“Our Landscaping team clean the creek on a daily basis and over the past 12 months have collected 1.683 tons of rubbish. A further 13,800kg worth of pollution has been blocked from entering the creek over the past four years since installing a series of gully traps. We wanted to extend our knowledge and our positive impact on the creek past just our property – heading out into the greater community,” said Ms Hodgkins.
This is Lend Lease’s 15th consecutive Community Day, and since the initiative began in 1996, employees have volunteered over 450,000 hours.
