In October, Xylem employees volunteered a total of 6,487 hours on water-related projects in their local communities. This work was part of the first-ever Xylem Watermark Global Month of Service, during which employees volunteered to help create and protect safe water resources around the world.
The Global Month of Service included 97 water-related activities, with 1,225 employees participating. During October, Xylem also doubled its corporate match of employee donations to the company’s global nonprofit partners. In total, more than $103,000 were donated in employee and corporate double match funds, and 18 community grants were awarded.
Here are a few highlights from the volunteer activities:
Restoring wetlands in the U.S.
Xylem’s Dewatering leadership team volunteered with a wetlands restoration organization in New Orleans, Louisiana, to help restore imperiled coastal areas along the Gulf Coast.
Fixing a public fountain in Italy
Xylem’s AWS employees and their families restored a public fountain in Montecchio used by local women to wash clothes.
Testing water quality in Sweden
Xylem employees tested the water quality of a local lake in cooperation with The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, removed trash for the lake shore, and had a bake sale to raise money for Mercy Corps’ work in Haiti.
Building water towers in China
Xylem’s Analytics team in Guangxi helped build water towers in six primary schools across the region, in partnership with Planet Water Foundation.
Cleaning shorelines in Canada
Xylem employees from the North American Commercial Team’s Montreal Support Center bagged 550 pounds of trash as part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup at Bay Valois in Pointe-Claire.
Removing garbage from a river in Germany
Xylem Treatment employees from the company’s Herford facility took part in a Dragon Boat Race and cleaned up around 20 kilos of garbage from the Werre River with local partner Ingenieure ohne Grenzen (Engineers without Borders).
Raising awareness and donations in France
Members of the European Sales Team participated in Walk for Water events across multiple locations to raise awareness for the global water crisis.
About MyWatermark
Xylem’s volunteer project, MyWatermark, aims to log 100,000 hours of employee volunteer time over the next three years. Already, employee volunteer hours have increased by 330 percent compared to last year, and the first Global Month of Service boosted the hours even higher.